


Shifting Perceptions

by JB Harris (LizAna)



Series: The Janto Files [1]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Innuendo, M/M, M/M kissing, janto, reference to torchwood Big Finish audio drama Broken, sensual scenes but no explicit sex, torchwood cannon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-26
Updated: 2017-12-17
Packaged: 2019-02-07 01:05:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 24,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12830031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LizAna/pseuds/JB%20Harris
Summary: Ianto Jones gets one morning off for the first time in months. Not only does Jack's alarm wake him up, but any thoughts of a lazy morning in bed go out the window--along with all Jack's clothes--when Lisa comes home and wants to know why her husband is sleeping with their boss. The team soon work out that Lisa came through the rift from an alternate universe where she never died and instead works for Torchwood three along side Ianto. Can they send Lisa back to where she belongs, or has Torchwood just gained a new permanent team member? And if so, what does this mean for Jack and Ianto's relationship? Set after the end of season 2 but before CoE.





	1. Chapter 1

The alarm beeping dragged Captain Jack Harkness from a deep, dark sleep. Lying face down on the bed, he reached up and groped on the bedside table for his phone, hitting the screen to silence the chiming.  
“I thought I told you to turn your alarm off last night.”  
Jack rolled over to face Ianto, who still had his eyes closed. “Sorry, I forgot.”  
“That’s why I reminded you,” he murmured, still sounding half asleep. “I get one morning off in months. The plan was to sleep in.”  
“You should really talk to that boss of yours about getting more than one morning off every few months.” He brought his head up, resting his chin against his fist as he looked down at Ianto, still not opening those gorgeous blue eyes.  
They’d somehow settled into an almost-domestic routine without him even noticing over the past few months. They’d originally agreed to single night together, back when Ianto had been at a low point after losing Lisa, followed by Ianto letting Jack get sent through the rift to an alien world.  
Jack had thought for a few minutes there that he’d completely misjudged Ianto from the very first day they’d met and should never have trusted him. But then Ianto had come through the rift after him, and when they’d gotten back to Cardiff, he’d looked into those blue eyes and seen the regret, seen the pain, seen Ianto’s realization of where he belonged in the world.  
Ianto had recognized that ending his life or running away wouldn’t change who he was. If he was going to pull himself out of the darkness, then it started and ended with his place at Torchwood.  
Jack had given Ianto more chances than he’d ever given anyone else. He’d had an inexplicable weakness for the charming Welshman since Ianto had turned up and pestered him into a job at Torchwood three. Despite the hurt of finding out about Lisa, he knew without doubt that Ianto would never betray him again.  
So, that single night had turned into occasional casual sex. But then even that hadn’t been enough. It was like the more time they spent with one another, the more they needed. And after an eye-opening trip in the TARDIS with the Doctor, Jack had turned down the chance to travel the universe, knowing he didn’t want to be anywhere else than in Cardiff with Ianto Jones. The first thing he’d done when he’d gotten back was ask Ianto out on a date and though the word didn’t come up all that often, there was no getting around the truth that Ianto was his boyfriend. Such a stupid word, though. Ianto meant so much more to him than the simple term implied. One night had evolved into something amazing, taken on a life of its own. If he was being truthful, it was the best thing that’d happened to him in a long, long time.  
“Since I’m sleeping with my boss, you’d think I’d get special treatment or something,” Ianto finally replied over a yawn.  
Jack didn’t say anything, but reached out and slid his hand across Ianto’s chest. His naked chest.  
“I’m sleeping,” he grumbled with a frown.  
“But you’re really not. And since you’re awake…” He leaned in and kissed him on the shoulder.  
Ianto finally opened his eyes to look at him. “Fine, but I’m going back to sleep after.”  
He smiled, pulling Ianto in closer. “Whatever you want.”  
Ianto tipped his chin up as Jack leaned down to meet him halfway. The kiss was easy and familiar, but never failed to burn with that spark that’d drawn him to Ianto and kept him coming back.  
After a long, breathless moment, Ianto broke the kiss, but only long enough to roll on top of him.  
“I like where this is going,” he said with a grin as Ianto kissed a path down his neck.  
“You bloody sodding bastard!”  
They both froze at the shrill voice coming from the doorway. Ianto looked over his shoulder and then scrambled off him. Jack pushed up to sit, pulling the sheet over to cover both of them as he stared at the woman standing in Ianto’s bedroom doorway.  
“Lisa?” Ianto sounded as confused as he felt. Probably more so since his dead girlfriend had apparently decided to come home.  
“I spent all night working, and this is what I come home to?” She tossed one of her shoes she’d been holding, leaving Ianto to duck. “You’re cheating on me? Not just cheating on me. Sleeping with Jack bloody Harkness!”  
She threw the other shoe and it clipped Ianto’s shoulder.  
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” He yelled, trying to get Lisa’s attention. “Can we just stop for a second and work out what the hell is going on here?”  
“What the hell is going on here?” Lisa repeated, almost hysterical. “What’s going on here is we’ve barely been married for a year and my husband is shagging our boss!”  
“Married?” Both he and Ianto exclaimed at the same time.  
“Yes, Jack.” Lisa stormed across the room and snatched up his pants from the floor where he’d dropped them in a hurry last night. “Our wedding, remember? You were only the bloody best man!”  
She threw the pants at him and he caught them just before they hit him in the face.  
“Jack, she’s real,” Ianto said to him in a low, uneven voice.  
“I know she’s real.” He scooted to the edge of the bed and hurried to pull his pants on.  
“But, how? What is she?”  
“Of course I'm real!” She gathered up his shirt, socks, shoes and his coat. “Stop acting like I'm the one who's wrong here!”  
She stomped over to the window and flung it open.  
“Now wait just a second—” He started to get up, but she tossed the last of clothes out into the street, including his coat. Now he was pissed off. He glanced over his shoulder at Ianto. “Get your clothes on. We’re taking her into the hub. Now.”


	2. Chapter 2

There were a lot of days at Torchwood when the only response to a situation was what the F. In fact, it pretty much came with the job description. But today really took the cake. Took it and flung it out a window just like Lisa had done with Jack’s clothes.   
As soon as she’d done it, Ianto had scrambled to get his own clothes on and then rushed downstairs to grab them out of the wet street. Truthfully, it had mostly been about not wanting to deal with Lisa, more than anything else. Though, he seriously wouldn’t have been happy if anything had happened to Jack’s coat.   
When he’d gone back up and handed the garments over to Jack, he’d avoided looking directly at Lisa, even though he was quite aware she was staring daggers at him. Because his mind just couldn’t process it. How was she here? Why was she here? And she thought they were married? What the hell was that all about?  
Jack had taken charge of her, keeping in between them and staying within reaching distance of her at all times, as though he wanted to make sure she wasn’t going to suddenly disappear again. Or throw any more shoes at him. Those pumps she’d always favoured didn’t have a high heel, but they were apparently deadly. No doubt he’d have a bruise on his upper arm later.   
They’d all climbed into the SUV, where Jack had left it last night, parked in the alley that ran behind his house. Jack had been driving, Lisa in the front and he’d climbed into the back. None of them had said a word the entire way back to the Torchwood hub.   
God, awkward didn’t begin to cover this. He’d gotten over Lisa. They’d had a memorial of sorts for her and he’d moved on with Jack. Seeing her now, it was life his entire life perceptions had shifted.   
He’d loved Lisa, that would never be in question. If she hadn’t died, he would have happily spent the rest of his life with her and never had a second thought.   
But she had died and he’d fallen in love with Jack. Seeing the two of them sitting side by side in the front of the SUV had been like something out of those dreams you could never figure out were bad or just kind of weird. The realization that he’d hadn’t loved Lisa the same way he now loved Jack had cut through him like a knife, completely separating the past from the present.   
He had no idea what he was supposed to do with this. All he knew was that Lisa couldn’t be real. The rift was screwing with them again. She was a ghost or a projection or a bloody alien who’d thought it’d be a good idea to impersonate her. The only thing he could count on for sure was that she wasn’t his Lisa.   
When they arrived at the hub, Lisa pulled a card out of her pocket that looked suspiciously familiar.   
“What is that?” Jack took it from her and held it up.  
“My security pass.” She crossed her arms and glared at him like she was questioning his intelligence.   
Jack sent him a concerned glance and then handed it over to him. He studied it, running his finger over the chip and the small picture of her in the corner.   
“It looks real.”  
“It is real.” She held her hand out for it but he slipped it into his inner jacket pocket, leaving her glaring at him. They headed down, Jack taking the lead, Lisa in the middle and him coming behind. Every so often, Lisa would glance over her shoulder at him, but he kept his gaze trained on the upturned collar of Jack’s coat. If he didn’t look directly at her, if he didn’t think about her too much, when they figured this out and sent her back to wherever she’d come from, then maybe it wouldn’t be so hard.  
Otherwise guilt would start eating at him. He’d start remembering how he’d failed to save her, how he’d betrayed and hurt Jack. Hell, he’d even start feeling guilty for moving on and being so damn happy with Jack. It wasn’t a spiral he wanted to go back down ever again. Not when last time he’d come so close to simply ending it all.   
When the blast door rolled away, Gwen called out a greeting, emerging from behind the computer consoles.   
“Morning, Jack, didn’t expect to see you in so early since Ianto had—” She stopped when her gaze landed on Lisa.   
“Who’s this?” They both said at the same time, which under any other circumstances would have been funny.   
“Gwen, you remember Lisa.”   
Gwen’s eyebrows arched up toward her bangs. “Lisa? Ianto’s Lisa? Lisa who got—”  
“Yes, that Lisa,” Jack interrupted before she could presumably get to the part about Lisa getting half converted to a Cyberman, then murdering two people, attacking the team, causing the base to lockdown and eventually being killed. Fun times. Not.   
“We’ve never met before.” Lisa crossed her arms, the glare that’d been permanently set into her features since she’d walked in on him and Jack in bed now turned to Gwen.   
“Not officially.” Jack grinned like he actually thought this was kind of amusing.  
Clenching his jaw over the urge to say anything, Ianto went over to the nearby computer system to check Lisa’s security pass. He scanned it, and while it failed to bring up any personnel files, it did pass all of the usual protocols which meant she had full access to the hub.   
“Gwen, luv, I’ve got your coffee here.”   
Ianto looked up to see Rhys coming from the direction of the kitchen. Gwen’s husband pulled up short when he saw them all standing there. “Uh, hi everyone. Guess I’ll go back and make extra, will I?”  
“Rhys, please don’t tell me you touched my coffee machine.” He pushed to his feet, already imagining the state it must be in. It’d come from Italy, and while the old girl might be a touch temperamental, if a person knew how to use it properly, then it made the best coffee in Cardiff. Even if he did say so himself.   
Gwen and Rhys shared an amused-guilty look like children getting caught stealing from the lolly jar.   
“Just great,” he muttered, heading for the coffee machine. It gave him an excuse to get away from Lisa anyway. Maybe he was a coward, but in this instance, he wanted to stay right out of things and let Jack handle it. However, when he got into the kitchen and grabbed out a tea towel, he positioned himself so he could still see what was going on.   
“Rhys, not that I don’t mind seeing you around here during the odd lull,” Jack said in a cheerful voice. “But do me a favour and get gone. We’ve got work to do.”  
“Alright, no need to tell me twice. Got to be at work soon anyway,” Rhys replied, good naturedly, as usual.  
“I’ll walk you out,” Gwen offered, setting her coffee down on a desk and then taking his hand.  
Jack beckoned Lisa over and the two of them disappeared toward Jack’s office.   
Ianto took a long, unsteady breath, letting the emotion he’d been trying to hold back since he’d first realized it was Lisa standing in his bedroom seep through him now that he was alone. God. This was a mess. Seeing her again, it brought back too many memories. Not all of them were sad and painful. A lot of them reminded him of how happy they’d been. How the world had seemed filled with so many possibilities. He’d been a different person back then. Losing her had changed him, but Jack had revived him, breathed new life into him and made him see the world through a different, amazing perspective. And this shock had made him realize with stunning clarity how much he needed that. How much he needed Jack.   
Whatever happened with Lisa, he just hoped it didn’t bring his life into ruins. Again.


	3. Chapter 3

Jack dropped into the chair behind his desk as Lisa sat on the opposite side. He leaned back and steepled his hands as he regarded her. She was angry and hurt, avoiding his gaze, glancing toward where Ianto had escaped to his sanctuary behind the coffee machine.  
“So, tell me what happened.”  
She turned to stare at him, a few tears rolling down her cheeks. “I came home to find you in bed with my husband. You of all people need a diagram, Jack?”  
“No, I mean tell me how you came to be here.”  
Her eyes widened a little, confusion entering her features. “How I came to be in Cardiff? You already know that. After Canary Warf, Ianto and I—”  
“No, actually, I don’t know. So you need to tell me right from the beginning.” He sat forward, folding his hands on the desk as he settled a hard glare on her. “Because we have a bit of a problem. You see, Lisa Hallett was half-converted into a Cyberman during the battle of Canary Warf and then died later on. So, whoever you are, it’s not Lisa Hallett.”  
Some of the anger drained out of her expression to be replaced with shock and fear.  
“Okay, this has gone too far. Is this some kind of really bad joke? You’re not actually sleeping with Ianto, are you?” She leaned forward, clearly desperate for him to tell her this was some twisted prank.  
“Ianto and I have been together for months now," he answered in a carefully even tone. "He’s my boyfriend.”  
A clatter sounded at his office doorway and he glanced up to see Ianto holding a tray of coffees and staring at him in disbelief. Oh, that was probably the first time he’d actually said boyfriend when talking about Ianto. Possibly telling his dead girlfriend hadn’t been the best time to announce it.  
“Months?” Lisa repeated, slouching back in the chair. “How could this have been going on for months without me noticing?”  
“Probably because you weren’t actually here,” he answered, motioning Ianto over.  
He hesitated, uncertain, glancing between him and Lisa like he wished he was anywhere else. Which was probably the absolute truth. After all the trauma he’d gone through losing her, Jack couldn’t even begin to imagine how this was affecting him. And it actually made him kind of angry. Ianto had been happy. These last months, he’d seen the real Ianto. Still sarcastic and quick witted, but relaxed and content. Like he was completely comfortable and satisfied with his life. The thought that he might slip back into that dark place he’d been when everything had happened with Lisa terrified him. He couldn’t watch Ianto go through that again. Not now. Not when he—He loved him. It was hard to admit, even to himself. But it was the truth.  
“Here, Jack.” Ianto handed over the coffee and with his next breath, the rich aroma of it hit the back of his throat, sending a wave of warmth through him. It’d become a thing with him. He couldn’t walk past a damn cafe these days without thinking of Ianto and getting turned on as soon as he smelled the coffee. It was bordering on embarrassing.  
“Thanks, Ianto,” he murmured, glancing up to catch his eye. Ianto sent him a small smile, like he needed to reassure himself everything was going to be okay.  
“This is just ridiculous!” Lisa stood up, anger in every line of her body. “Now I have to sit here and watch you two make goo-goo eyes at one another? No way. I’m going home. Ianto, I don’t care where you sleep tonight, as long as it’s nowhere near me.”  
“Sit.” Jack pointed a finger at her. When she didn’t comply, he slowly rose to his feet. “If you’re not going to cooperate, I’ll lock you in the vaults.”  
“Like hell you will!” She stepped away from the chair, but only so she could round the desk, brushing by Ianto and then stopping in front of him. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but I’m not the one in the wrong. You sent me out after that rift-jumper yesterday and I spent all night tracking him—”  
“Wait.” He held up a hand to stop her. It shouldn’t have been possible, because the rift was a portal through time and space, not realities. But it was the only explanation that made sense. “Explain exactly what you did last night.”  
Her brow creased in confusion. “We left the hub about nine, after Tosh picked up some seriously strong rift activity.”  
“Tosh? She was there?” He glanced at Ianto, who, by the dawning realization on his face, might have come up with the same theory he had.  
“Of course Tosh was there. You and I went out, you were using your wristband to track the rift-jumper. You said there was something different about the energy signature, something that shouldn’t have been possible. We thought we’d cornered him in some alley way, but he used a device to slice through the fence. You’d gone back around to try and cut him off. I went through, and lost contact with you. Some kind of interference on the comms. I chased the guy for another few blocks, but then I lost him. After that, I went home. And found out where you’d disappeared to.”  
“Lisa, I don’t think the man you were chasing used that device just to cut through the fence. I think it cut through the very fabric of the universe, through alternate realities.” He held up his arm and flipped open his wrist strap. With a few adjustments on the settings, he scanned her, not surprised at the results he got. “You’re covered in rift energy, but it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”  
“What? No. That’s not possible.” She backed up a step from him, dread and disbelief in her wide eyes.  
“Wait,” Ianto said in a tight voice. “You mean she really is Lisa?”  
He glanced at Ianto, and could see every emotion and vulnerability cross his face. Jack shifted around Lisa and went over to cup both hands on his shoulders.  
“She’s Lisa, but not your Lisa. Your Lisa died, Ianto. This is a different Lisa from an alternate reality.”  
Tears gathered along the lashes of Ianto’s eyes, making them look even bluer than usual. “A reality where she didn’t die? She survived Canary Warf and we got married.”  
He tightened his hold on Ianto’s shoulders, cold dread surging through him that everything they’d had together over the last almost-year was collapsing in front of him, and he couldn’t do anything to stop it. What if seeing her again reminded Ianto how much he loved her? What if it made him have second thoughts about them being together? He couldn’t go back. Couldn’t see Ianto every day and just be work colleagues. It would burn him until he was nothing but ashes.  
“Listen, this doesn’t change anything. I’m sorry, Ianto, but your Lisa is still dead. This Lisa has a husband, a different version of you in another reality and if he knows she disappeared through the rift, he’s probably going out of his mind right now.”  
“Oh my God,” Lisa uttered, leaning heavily against his desk. “You’re right. If this is really happening and I’m actually in another reality, my Ianto, the real Ianto, he must be sick with worry.”  
“Real me, standing right here,” Ianto said in a dry voice.  
Lisa turned to stare at him like she was seeing a completely different person for the first time. “Not to me. You’re not real to me. My Ianto would never—”  
Her gaze cut to Jack and she seemed to think better of whatever she’d been going to say. But she didn’t need to use the words to hurt Ianto. Jack saw it before he dropped his head to stare at his feet.  
“Hey, look at me.” When he didn’t bring his gaze up right away, Jack cupped a palm against his cheek, urging him to look up. “You’re my Ianto, got it? If nothing else makes sense in your head right now, just remember that. You’re mine, and nothing will change that.”  
Ianto gave a tight nod, and unable to stand the shadows of pain he could still see in his eyes, Jack leaned in and kissed him, lingering just long enough to prove a point to Lisa and leaving Ianto exhaling unsteadily.  
Maybe it was petty of him, like he was marking his territory or something—or so Ianto would probably accuse him of, if he hadn’t been so emotionally train-wrecked right now. But he wasn’t going to stand by and let anyone hurt Ianto, even inadvertently. Especially girlfriends who should be dead.  
And Ianto complained about dealing with his ex-lovers. At least none of them had ever ambushed him from an alternate reality while he’d been in bed with his current lover. Before they got to finish what they’d started. That definitely needed rectifying later on.  
“Why don’t you go check the rift monitor, see if you can’t work out why we didn’t get an alert when this rift-jumper—or whoever he is—came through last night.”  
Giving Ianto something to do seemed like the best way of distracting him and keeping him away from Lisa until they could work out how to send her back to her own reality. He wanted to say it was all for altruistic reasons, that he could see dealing with Lisa was difficult for him. But even though he didn’t want to admit it, some of it was taking care of his own insecurities.  
There’d been a shadow in the back of his mind for a while now, telling him that this thing with Ianto, it was too good. It was making him too happy. It couldn’t last. Something or someone would end up coming between them. Was this it? Was Lisa the one who was going to destroy them?  
It always happened. He always ended up alone. Over the years, he’d gotten really good at caring about people—friends and romantic partners—only a certain amount. It was an easy kind of love that he gave freely to those who came and went over the years. It reminded him there was more to life, but didn’t leave him broken after the relationship ended. Because they always ended one way or another.  
Except Ianto—  
Ianto Jones was unlike any other person he’d ever met. Ianto had taken him under, had completely sunk him and he hadn’t even noticed. He hadn’t loved anyone this deeply in a long, long time. Maybe ever. And now he was terrified. Because eventually he and Ianto would be forced apart. And after it was all said and done, he had no idea what he would do without him.


	4. Chapter 4

Ianto left Jack’s office and headed over to the computer consoles where Gwen had returned to hang out and pretend like she wasn’t trying to overhear what was going on in Jack’s office.  
His head was spinning. He was having trouble reconciling the fact that it really was Lisa, but a different Lisa who was married to a different version of him in a different reality. He’d never stopped to imagine there might be an entire other world out there where he and Lisa had gone on to have the life he’d always dreamed about when they’d been together.  
Wheeling one of the chairs over, he sat down and tapped at the keyboard to bring up the rift monitor.  
“Ianto, what the hell is going on?” Gwen came over to lean on the desk next to him with her arms crossed, still staring toward Jack’s office, where Lisa and Jack were talking. Not about him, hopefully.  
When she’d started to say my Ianto would never— it was like the floor had dropped out from beneath him. Not a single day or a single person had ever made him think twice about being with Jack, no matter what had been said or the looks they’d occasionally gotten from people when they went out on a date and held hands in public. He didn’t care, because he loved Jack and that was all that mattered to him, not the opinions of people he didn’t even know.  
But Lisa, that had been like getting stabbed right through the middle of the chest. Like he’d somehow betrayed her. Was it because he was with a man? Or was it Jack? Or was it the fact that he’d moved on with anyone at all? He didn’t know, and didn’t plan on asking her.  
And bloody Jack. As if he wasn’t already feeling completely adrift over this, Jack had gone and straight out told Lisa that he was his boyfriend. Jack had claimed him as a lot of things over the years, depending on who he was talking to and how much he wanted them to know. But he’d never once used the word boyfriend. It was probably as close to a declaration of love as he would ever get from him. He was still getting used to being an actual couple, and though it was completely ridiculous, pretty much got giddy whenever anyone referred to them as such.  
So, yes. Jack using the word boyfriend had just about shocked him more than Lisa turning up in the first place. And then that kiss. He’d known Jack was just trying to prove a point, but it’d still worked to ground him like nothing else could have.  
“I don’t know what’s going on,” he finally answered Gwen. “All I know is Jack wants me to check the rift monitor.”  
“Is that how she came here, through the rift?” Gwen finally turned her attention to look down at him. “Where on earth did you find her? It must have been quite the shock.”  
“You have no idea,” he muttered, scanning the data on the rift and not finding any anomalies.  
“Well, go on then.”  
He sighed and sat back in the chair to meet her curious gaze.  
“She came home this morning. To my flat. Had a key and everything.”  
“So she just walked in and…?” Gwen sent him a look telling him she expected more details. He hesitated to tell her the rest, but then knowing Gwen, she’d ferret out the truth one way or another.  
“And Jack and I were in bed. Together. We were—having a moment.”  
Gwen slapped a hand over her mouth, smothering a laugh, her expression gleefully scandalized.  
Damn it, he knew he shouldn’t have told her. Of course it was hilarious to everyone else. He started to get up but she grabbed his arm.  
“Oh, Ianto. I’m sorry. I can’t imagine how bad that must have been.”  
“It was bad dream, bad.” He couldn’t help looking toward Jack’s office, still not able to believe she was actually here. “If only I could wake up.”  
She rubbed his arm reassuringly before letting him go. “Don’t worry. We’ll figure it out. Anything on the rift monitor?”  
He turned his attention back to the computer screen. “Not even a blip. Which makes no sense. If only Lisa had brought alternate-reality-Tosh with her. She would have figured this out by now.”  
“Tosh is still alive in Lisa’s reality?” Gwen’s expression took on a sombre edge, no longer amused by all of this. “What about Owen?”  
“I don’t know. She only mentioned Tosh in passing. That’s how Jack and I figured out where she might have come from. He scanned her with his wristband and said she was covered in rift energy, but it wasn’t like anything he’d seen before.”  
“Okay, so does the rift monitor record any other types of energy?”  
Ah, he could see where Gwen was going with this. The energy from when Lisa had come through might have been so different that the rift monitor hadn’t recognized it as important.  
“No, but I think Tosh had some other kind of program that tracks different types of energy levels around the city.” He typed, fingers steadily moving over the keyboard until he found the program and brought it up. “There.”  
Gwen leaned forward to study the screen, where a massive pulse of some kind had registered in the early hours of the morning. No type of recognizable energy showed in the readings, it was all just gibberish. Tosh probably could have made sense of it, though.  
“What have we got?” Jack asked, approaching the opposite side of the computer console with Lisa trailing him warily.  
She was staring at him like he was a complete stranger. Though, he supposed, technically they were. It shouldn’t have hurt, but it did.  
He cleared his throat and turned his attention to Jack. “The rift monitor didn’t pick anything up, but that other program Tosh developed to track energy signatures around the city did.”  
Jack came around and braced his hands lightly on his shoulders as he leaned in to look at the computer. “That would be it.”  
“So, now what?” Gwen asked, sending Lisa a small smile like she was trying extra hard to be friendly.  
“Now, we see if we can find the person responsible—apparently running around the city with some kind of device that can cut through realities—and use it to send Lisa home.”  
“You make it sound so easy,” Lisa replied, crossing her arms. “Obviously not everything in this reality is different. You’re still completely arrogant.”  
Jack grinned at her, not the least bit insulted. Probably because it was true. “If by arrogant you meant charming, then yes I am.”  
“So,” Gwen put in. “Do you actually have a plan on how we’re going to find whoever it is?”  
“Let’s just say it’s a work in progress.” Jack used his hold on Ianto’s shoulders to roll him and the chair aside so he could type at the keyboard. “My wrist band can track the residual energy, but obviously we’ve only got one of those and I can’t be everywhere at once. We should be able to use these readings to calibrate Tosh’s—”  
“I’ll go and get it out of the archives,” he said, getting to his feet, anticipating which device Jack was going to ask for. Jack nodded without looking at him.  
“Ianto,” Lisa stepped into his path. “Do you mind if I come? I’d like to talk with you.”  
He cast a glance at Jack, but he had his attention fixed on the screen, discussing something with Gwen. No rescue coming from there.  
“Yes, alright. Fine.” If he sounded uncomfortable, it’d be because he was.  
He slid his hands into his pockets, keeping his gaze trained straight ahead as they walked to the archives, neither of them saying a word. So much for wanting to talk with him. Though, he supposed he couldn’t blame her. He didn’t even know where to begin with her. So many things he’d wanted to tell Lisa. Night after endless night he’d lain awake in the days after her death and thought of all the things he’d never gotten the chance to say to her. Now she was here, he couldn’t think of a single one.  
Except it’d be pointless, wouldn’t it? Even if he could remember. Because she wasn’t the same Lisa.  
It wasn’t until they’d reached the archives and he’d taken Tosh’s clever device they used for scanning all kinds of things out of its box that Lisa finally started.  
“I’m sorry, about before. What I was going to say—”  
“Please, don’t.” He cut her a quick look. “Really, it doesn’t matter.”  
There were a lot of things he was willing to talk about with her, but Jack wasn’t one of them. It was just too weird.  
“But it does matter. And I really am sorry. I hurt you, and I didn’t mean it. I guess it was just a shock, you know. I never got even the slightest hint that you—he might be interested in men. Does that mean my Ianto—?”  
“I never thought about being anyone else when we were together. I mean, when I was with her.” He had to get used to talking about them as two different people, because they really were. “I can’t tell you what’s going to happen with your version of me. I can only tell you that after my Lisa died, Jack was there for me and I fell in love. I started falling for him the minute I met him, it just took me a while to realize it.”  
She studied him, no judgement or hurt in her features anymore. In fact, there was a fondness there, like she actually cared. “You really love him?”  
“Completely.” He couldn’t help the smile creeping up on him. “Stupidly, if we’re being honest.”  
She gave a light laugh. “Well, you never did do things by halves, Ianto.”  
Some of the shadow that’d fallen over him when he’d first laid eyes on her this morning lifted. Because this was helping him remember how good things had been between them. Not perfect—no relationship ever was. But even though he’d never been much of a talker, he’d found it easy to talk to her.  
“What exactly happened to her, the Lisa from this reality?” she asked quietly, like she wasn’t sure if she should be asking. Or wanted to hear the details.  
“Do you really want to know?” He had to give her the chance of changing her mind, because this might technically be a different Lisa, but he still knew how her mind worked.  
“No. Clearly you know I don’t.” She sent him a tremulous smile. “But it feels like I have to know. Like I should know. Does that make sense?”  
He nodded, taking a breath and bracing himself for the memories. “The battle of Canary Warf. You—she called me, to tell me what was happening. I wasn’t in the building. I was running some errand for Yvonne. We agreed on a place to meet, but when I got back, I decided to go and find Yvonne first. I was her personal assistant, I couldn’t just leave her—”  
“Oh my god.” Lisa’s eyes had widened. “That’s it. That’s where the two realities diverge.”  
“What do you mean?”  
She crossed her arms and paced a few steps. “That day, my Ianto met me just like we agreed and then we went to find Yvonne together, but it was too late, she’d already been taken.”  
That was it? His choice to go find Yvonne first instead of meeting Lisa had led to everything else? All of this. God, it was his fault then. She’d died because of him. The old guilt was returning, even though he tried to tell himself feeling that way wouldn’t change anything.  
“I got there just as they were taking her.” His voice had thickened, and he tried to swallow down the tension in his throat, but it was no use. “I wanted to stop them, but there were too many. I ran to find Lisa, but she was gone as well. Then later I found her—”  
He had to stop, because the memories—the horrible memories that he’d finally put to rest—were waking up, rising, bringing all the darkness back again.  
“Found her where?” Lisa whispered, stepping closer.  
“The battle was over, and she was in one of those units. It’d shut down when she was only half converted. I dragged her out, tried to find help. But it was chaos. So many dead and injured. It was all I could do to keep her alive.” His eyes started stinging and he blinked, looking away from her. “I only made things worse, I should have let her go. Instead, I brought her here to Torchwood three after convincing Jack to give me a job. I hid her down in the lowest level where no one else ever went, kept her hooked up to a life support machine and searched for a cure.”  
“Oh, Ianto. I know exactly how much you loved her. How much she loved you.” She closed the distance between them, reaching out hesitantly, as if she wasn’t sure whether she should touch him. But as soon as her hand made contact with his arm, it all came flooding back. The pain and the joy, and exactly how much he’d missed her. He pulled her in, hugging her too tight, but unable to do anything else. She returned the embrace, hanging on like she knew exactly what he needed. He’d always joked that she could read his mind.  
“I lied to everyone here, Lisa. Kept it all hidden. And then when I thought I’d found a doctor who could reverse the process, it all went to hell. She was too far gone. Too much a Cyberman and not enough Lisa left, I just couldn’t see it. She killed two people. That’s on me and no one else. Jack and the others eventually stopped her, but not before she tried to kill all of them as well.”  
“God, Ianto. I’m so, so sorry. I can’t even imagine how horrible that must have been. But it really wasn’t your fault. You couldn’t have known how any of that would play out. You were tyring to do the right thing for the right reasons. Because you loved her.”  
He snatched in a slicing breath, body aching in so many different ways. There was the old pain and a new pain. But there was also sharp relief. Because the one person he’d needed to forgive him hadn’t been able to do it. Not until today, anyway.  
“Am I interrupting something?”  
Ianto let go of Lisa, wiping a hand across his face as he stepped back to see Jack regarding them. His expression was detached, not showing any emotion, a mask he’d gotten good at slipping into place. But his eyes were never blank, they always gave the truth away, and now didn’t prove to be the exception.  
“Ianto was just telling me about what happened to the Lisa from this reality.” Lisa wiped the edges of her eyes.  
“Things are okay, then?” Jack cocked his head slightly, like he was looking for something else between the lines.  
Well, this was a switch in pace. Usually he was the one trying to rein in his snark over one of Jack’s ex-lovers. Seemed Jack was getting a taste of what it was like to be on the other end of the equation. Maybe it made him a terrible person, but he was kind of enjoying it.  
“Things are definitely okay.” He slid an arm across Lisa’s shoulders, sending her a smile, just to push some more of Jack’s buttons. He was kind of fascinated to find out what would happen if Jack got really jealous.  
And his words had been the absolute truth. He was feeling better about things than he had in a long time. It was like that final outpouring of grief over Lisa—and everything that’d happened when he’d tried to save her—had at last put all of the guilt and sorrow at peace.  
“Well then, can we get on with things?” A hint of irritation entered Jack’s expression. “We do have someone running around the city with a potentially dangerous device.”  
Before ether of them could answer, Jack turned and strode back out of the archive vault, not bothering to wait for them.  
When he was gone, Lisa laughed and gave him a little push. “You were trying to make him jealous, weren’t you?”  
He tried to put on an innocent expression, but completely failed. “Well, maybe just a little.”  
“Ah, Ianto. You always did have that hidden wicked side. Jack has no idea what he’s gotten himself into with you. Come on, we better get back up there before he decides to lock me up after all because he thinks I’m going to steal you away.” She started to turn away but then shot him a conspiratorial smile. “For the record, I think it totally worked.”


	5. Chapter 5

Jack clenched his fists, resisting the urge to glance over his shoulder to make sure Ianto and Lisa were coming after him. He didn’t begrudge Ianto of using this opportunity to find closure over Lisa that he otherwise would have never gotten, but when he’d walked into the archives and seen them embracing, it had made his guts drop into his feet.  
He’d been foolish enough to get comfortable with Ianto, to let his guard down. To think that just for a short time, he could be happy and maybe—just maybe—have a small slice of close-to-normal. But this was bloody Torchwood. Of course his boyfriend’s dead girlfriend had come through the rift from an alternate dimension to land right in the middle of their relationship.  
He got back up to the main hub where Gwen was getting ready to go out so they could track the rift-jumper once they calibrated Tosh’s device.  
“Did you find them? Gwen asked as she took the magazine out of her gun and checked the bullets.  
“Yes.” The word came out far more clipped than he intended, gaining him a surprised glance from her.  
“Something wrong?”  
“Not at all.” He sent her a smile but got the feeling even that was too sharp, especially when she just shook her head like he wasn’t fooling anyone.  
Ianto and Lisa finally returned—Lisa seeming more relaxed than she had since the first moment she’d walked into Ianto’s bedroom that morning, and Ianto trying not to glance at him every other second and totally failing. Like Ianto was just waiting for him to say something. Well, he wasn’t going to. Not now, anyway.  
“You need help with the—” Ianto started as he set the device on the desk.  
“Nope.” He glanced up to see an annoyed expression flit over Ianto’s face. It was gone in another second, like it’d never been there. He simply nodded and then reached over to pick up an empty coffee mug, making a pointed exit toward the kitchen. But it left guilt burning in his stomach long after Ianto had walked off.  
Lisa asked Gwen about something, and the two of them started chatting while he finished calibrating the new readings into Tosh’s device. Though he didn’t want to say anything yet, even if they did manage to find this rift-jumper, there was every chance they wouldn’t be able to send Lisa back to her own reality. The rift was tricky like that. It wasn’t a two-way street, not even really a proper portal of any kind. It was like a tide coming in and going out, never quite the same, never quite repeating, washing up all kinds of debris and flotsam from all over the universe.  
It was highly possible that Lisa was stuck here for good. The pragmatic part of him said he needed to work out what they were going to do if that ended up being the case. Did he offer her a job, or set her up in a new life somewhere far away from here? And what the hell would that mean for him and Ianto? Lisa had been the love of his life. Would he turn down a second chance with her, even if it wasn’t technically the same woman?  
The questions left him feeling slightly queasy, so he pushed them down, compartmentalized them like he did with so many other things over his long years of life. First, he was going to do everything in his power to send her home, simply because that’s where she belonged and no other reason. If it turned out not to be possible, then he’d work the other stuff out later.  
The device finished calibrating and he called Gwen over, showing her how it worked.  
“We’ll head into the city, get Lisa to show us where she came through, and then split up to see if we can find this rift-jumper or whatever he calls himself,” he told her as he concentrated on double checking his wristband functions. Last thing he needed today was a glitch.  
“Uh, Jack. When this thing reads that residual energy, does it look something like this?”  
Gwen held up the device to show the readings going off the scales.  
“That can’t be right,” he muttered, checking his own wristband.  
“Unless it is,” Gwen answered. “Because this thing says he’s right above us.”  
He spun around to the computer console and brought up the exterior cameras around the hub. Lisa and Gwen both came closer as the screens all flickered with the security footage.  
“There.” Lisa pointed to one of the screens showing a view on the pier, where a man in a dark clothing was loitering just down from the fake tourist information office they kept upstairs. “That’s him.”  
“Ianto!”  
Jack was already moving, grabbing his coat off the stand and sprinting to get up to ground level before the guy disappeared, Gwen and Lisa coming right behind him.  
“What’s he doing here?” Gwen asked, words short and choppy as they pounded at a run down the corridor.  
“I don’t know. Maybe his device needs rift energy to recharge.”  
By the time they reached the tourist office, stacked neatly with pamphlets Ianto had organized within an inch of their life, Ianto had caught up with them, gun out and bringing up the rear as Jack slowly pushed open the door.  
He swung out, leading with his pistol, but the way was clear. He motioned to Gwen, pointing down along the pier where the guy had been standing, which unfortunately put him out of view from the doorway.  
While Ianto hung back, he, Gwen and Lisa crept forward, boards creaking under them, water slapping against the concrete sea wall beyond the edge of the pier. An icy wind buffeted him, cutting against his chest where his coat fell open.  
He edged his way up to the corner, only sparing a brief glance at Gwen to make sure she was ready before stepping out with his pistol aimed. But the length of pier was empty. The man was gone and the weather too freezing for any tourists to bother coming out.  
“Where’d he go?” Gwen asked in a quiet voice, scanning the boardwalk above them with her gun in a sweeping motion.  
“I don’t know, but he couldn’t have gotten far.” He checked his wristband. The readings were still high, still close by. In fact they were coming from behind them.  
“Jack.” Ianto’s voice came through on the comm in his ear, tension obvious.  
He nodded to Gwen and they quickly backtracked. Jack pulled to a halt as he rounded the corner and put his gun up, aiming at where Ianto was facing off with the rift-jumper, blocking him from getting in the door to the tourist office. And the hub.  
“Put your hands where I can see them!” he yelled out, slowly but steadily edging closer.  
The guy turned—human, nothing remarkable. Kind of short, dark blond hair, scar on his cheek that the ladies probably loved. Nope, there was nothing remarkable about him at all. Except for the wristband he wore.  
“Jack, he’s got—” Gwen started.  
“I can see that.” It had to have been stolen from a Time Agent and quite obviously modified well beyond its standard operations. His wristband might be able to take him through time and space, but it sure as hell couldn’t get him through alternate realities.  
“I don’t want any trouble,” the guy said. “I just need a little rift energy, then I can be out of your hair.”  
“Yeah, and what about her?” He nodded to Lisa, standing nearby, looking like she was ready to pounce on him if it meant getting back to her own reality.  
The guy glanced at her and shrugged. “She followed me through. How is that my problem?”  
“Because we’re going to make it your problem.” He took another step forward. “Now take off the wristband—nice and slow—and toss it over.”  
The guy glanced between them all, and Jack could practically see his mind scrabbling for a way out of this.  
“Sorry, but I’ve got places to be. Dealing with the amateur hour that is Torchwood doesn’t really interest me.”  
“Amateur hour?” he repeated incredulously.  
“Jack, he’s just trying to distract you,” Ianto said in that voice he always got when he thought something should have been obvious.  
“Yeah, Jack.” The guy didn’t seem very intimidated by the three guns pointed at him. “Captain Jack Harkness, isn’t it? Which makes you Gwen Cooper. And Ianto Jones.”  
“How do you know who we are?” Gwen demanded in a sharp voice.  
“Like I said, amateur hour. As if I have time for dumb questions.” The guy passed a considering glance between Gwen and Ianto, before moving all of a sudden. Too quick, with no warning. He knocked the gun out of Ianto’s hand and then used his grip on Ianto’s arm to get behind him, using Ianto as a shield.  
Damn it. Jack’s heart kicked into a sprint. He had no idea if the guy had any kind of weapons, or how much danger Ianto might be in. What if he used the device to open the rift and took Ianto with him? Every muscle in his body tensed with the need to do something. Did he risk Ianto getting injured to take the shot and stop the rift-jumper before he could try anything?  
“He’ll do nicely. He’s the one you love, right Jack? It leaves you vulnerable, but you already know that. Can’t decide if it makes you stupid, or the bravest bastard that ever strutted around the galaxy. That’s you all over, though, isn’t it? Strutting through eternity in that ridiculous coat, smiling and flirting and killing and pretty much being an asshole.”  
“Have we met?” Sounded like this guy was talking from personal experience.  
“Not yet. But we will.”  
“Great, now I have to meet future lovers as well as past ones?” Ianto muttered, until the guy jerked him into silence.  
“I’ve got more self-respect than that, Ianto Jones. No, it’s not like that at all. But in the interest of not creating anymore of a paradox than I’m already risking, I’m not going to say anything else. And it really is time I left.”  
He yanked Ianto into a walk, circling away, around Jack, closer to the edge of the pier.  
“But you see, I know Jack well enough to realize he’s not going to give up that easily. Not unless he’s got another problem to deal with.”  
Jack firmed up his aim with his pistol, but couldn’t get a clear shot. “We don’t want to hurt you, we just want to get Lisa back to her own reality. Let Ianto go and we’ll talk.”  
“Oh, of course. Where are my manners? I wasn’t planning on holding him much longer anyway.” The guy had reached the edge of the pier, but instead of simply releasing Ianto, he hooked his foot into Ianto’s legs and then tugged him off balance, sending him over the edge.  
“Ianto!”  
The rift-jumper was already running off along the pier, Gwen and Lisa going after him, but Jack sprinted for the edge, dropping his gun and yanking his coat off.  
When he reached the end of the boards, he didn’t even pause, diving down, plunging into the water a split second later. It slapped into him like hitting ice, stealing his breath as his body went into instant shock at the freezing temperature. The water was murky, and he couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of him. He stroked toward where he thought Ianto had gone in, arms and legs already going numb, not cooperating as his mind told them to swim faster, harder.  
He spotted Ianto, struggling to swim upward, moving slow but clearly desperate. A surge of adrenaline gave extra power to his legs and Jack forced himself to ignore the aching cold, going down and reaching out. Ianto stretched up, and he managed to catch his hand. He pulled, bringing himself closer until he could wrap his arms around him as he started to kick up, lungs burning, the urge to inhale getting too desperate to ignore for much longer. Dizziness made him doubt for a second whether they were going up to the surface or simply swimming down further.  
Finally, they broke the surface and he sucked in a long, slicing breath, similar to whenever he came back from being dead. Ianto was gasping and coughing, trying to keep himself above the water even though Jack was holding on to him.  
Together, they slowly swam over to a boat ladder. Jack urged Ianto to go up first and then followed after him, entire body aching and shaking from the cold.  
Up on the pier, Ianto collapsed in a heap still coughing, shivers wracking his entire body.  
“Come on, we need to get you warmed up.” He stooped down and gathered up his coat, even though his numb fingers couldn’t feel a thing. He wrapped his arm around Ianto, helping him to his feet and then taking his weight.  
“What about you?” Ianto forced out through chattering teeth as Jack settled his coat around his shoulders.  
“Hypothermia won’t kill me. Well, at least not for long, anyway.” He closed his arm around Ianto’s shoulders and they headed for the hub, hunched against the cold wind and probably not moving at much more than a shuffle.  
“I’d laugh, but I’m afraid my face is frozen solid and if I smile my head might shatter into little ice cubes.” Ianto’s witty reply was somewhat ruined by the way his voice was shaking, along with his body.  
“Well, your sarcasm is in good working order. I think you’ll live after all.”  
Which was a damn relief. For a second there—  
He couldn’t think about it. He’d spent enough time dwelling on that, knowing he was going to watch Ianto die one day. Wondering how, when and where it would happen. Wondering if they’d get to spend years together, or if they had mere months or weeks. Waking up in the morning and wondering is today the day I lose him for good?  
But not today. Ianto just needed a bit of warming up and he’d be fine. Then they could get back to their other not-so-small problems of someone from his future who apparently hated him and a dead girlfriend who needed a one-way ticket back to an alternate reality. Just another day at Torchwood.


	6. Chapter 6

Bloody, bloody hell. Ianto had never been this cold in his entire life. His breath had been ripped from him the second the rift-jumper had tipped him backward over the edge of the pier and he’d known he was going to fall and couldn’t do anything about it.  
He’d hit the water like landing on concrete, sending a sharp ache through every joint. But then the freezing cold had taken hold of him and a numb, icy-burning kind of pain like nothing he’d ever felt before had locked all his muscles. He’d tried desperately to propel himself upward, even as he’d sunk further down.  
And then Jack had been there, just when the panic was about to completely take over. As soon as he’d reached up and grabbed Jack’s hand, he’d known—despite the agony in his chest at the desperate need for air—that he would be okay. Jack would save him. Jack always saved him.  
But just because he’d been able to breathe again after they’d reached the surface, it hadn’t helped the way his body was aching with the cold that had sunk all the way to his bones. Right now, he didn’t know how he was ever going to get warm again.  
Jack hustled him in through the tourist information, and all he could think about was the tracks of water they were leaving like mini rivers across the floor. He’d have to come back up and clean it later. Not to mention the bay water seeping into Jack’s coat on his shoulders, he’d need to take care of that too. At least the wind wasn’t cutting through his wet clothes anymore.  
Neither of them said anything all the way down into the hub, not that he could have answered if Jack had tried to keep up a conversation. His mind felt sluggish and as they passed by the couch, all he could think of was laying down to sleep. He felt completely wiped out, like that short fight for survival had used up all his energy. Maybe if he just slept for an hour or so, he’d feel better.  
“I’m tired, Jack. Can’t I just lay down for a bit?” He would have detoured for the couch, but Jack tugged him along.  
“No, you can’t sleep, it’s the hypothermia. You need to get warm.”  
“I’m not that cold anymore.” He wasn’t at all, so he must be getting warmer. “I’ve stopped shivering, see?”  
Jack cut him a concerned look. “That’s not a good thing, trust me.”  
Jack led him into the bathroom, past the toilets and through to the change room and showers. It was still fairly old-fashioned inside, all exposed copper pipes that rattled when the water came on. The showers got used pretty regularly by everyone—there were too many days when someone from the team came back covered in blood or mud or alien goo or he-didn’t-want-to-know-what. Though, maybe not as much now that it was just him, Jack and Gwen. He’d always made sure there were clean fluffy towels and all kinds of products in the shelves.  
Instead of heading for the lockers and dry clothes, Jack towed him over to the showers and let him go long enough to turn on the hot tap.  
“What are you doing?” he asked, eyeing the bench across the room and wondering if he had enough energy to get himself over there. He really just wanted to sit down and close his eyes for a few minutes.  
“I told you. You need to get warm. Best way to do that is a hot shower. Well, that and sharing body heat.”  
He eyed Jack suspiciously who grinned and held up his hands in surrender. His wet shirt was sticking to his chest, and his hair was spiking out all over the place. Even dripping wet, the man was drop dead gorgeous. “I promise. If Owen was here he’d tell you the same thing.”  
“I doubt he’d be the one offering to share body heat, though.”  
Jack’s grin turned sly. “Would you have let him if he had?”  
He rolled his eyes, the steam rolling up from the hot water making him shiver.  
“Come on.” Jack tugged him forward and took his coat from his shoulders, tossing it aside. “Stop standing around in those wet clothes and get in already.”  
He stiffly shrugged out of his suit jacket and let it fall to the tiles at his feet with a wet slap. Jack helped him get his shoes and socks off, then gently tugged his tie free. After that, he tried to unbutton his shirt, but his fingers were so numb he couldn’t get them to work properly.  
“Here, let me.” Jack took the edges of his shirt and with a sudden, sharp yank, ripped it open, sending buttons scattering.  
“And that makes twelve,” he muttered.  
“Twelve what?” Jack asked distractedly, pushing the shirt off his shoulders and then tugging it from his hands.  
“Twelve shirts you’ve ruined.”  
“I’m pretty sure the bay water ruined it long before I got here.” Jack met his gaze, exasperated. “Anyway, I’ve bought you a new one every time. And don’t expect me to apologize. It’s not my fault you get me so—”  
“I’m not complaining.” He sent Jack a quick smile. “You know me, I just like to keep track of things.”  
“Uh-huh.” Jack turned to check the water temperature while he peeled off his sodden pants. Getting all the wet clothes off helped immeasurably, but it was still a new shock to his system when he stepped under the warm spray from the showerhead, the droplets hitting his skin like tiny pinpricks.  
He shut his eyes, releasing a long breath as the water started warming him up, bringing sensation back to his aching body.  
When Jack pressed his chest up against his back—naked—he jumped and flinched away from him, because his skin was ice cold.  
“Jack—” He sucked in a breath when Jack splayed a hand across his stomach and pulled them back together.  
“You’re not the only one who needs warming up,” Jack murmured against his ear.  
Ianto let himself relax back against him, closing his eyes as the hot water cascaded over both of them.  
“Hey.” Jack slid both hands over his chest. “No sleeping, remember?”  
“I’m not,” he said, but even he had to admit his words sounded sleepy.  
“You’re a terrible liar,” Jack said with a hint of amusement in his voice.  
Though he’d obviously been making a joke, Jack’s words roused his mind, reminding him that he’d lied to Jack and everyone on the team for months when he’d first started working here and had been hiding Lisa in the cellar.  
“I’m sorry.” The words came out before he’d really thought about it.  
“For getting tossed in the harbour? It wasn’t exactly your fault.” Jack’s hands roamed over him, gently caressing, comforting, bringing more sensation back to his skin.  
“No, I mean about Lisa.”  
There was a pause, Jack didn’t say anything, and his hands stopped momentarily.  
“Not your fault either. But tell me. Were you actually trying to make me jealous earlier in the archives?”  
For half a second he considered denying it, but Jack knew him too well, he’d see right through it.  
“Need to keep you on your toes.”  
“Devious, Ianto.” Jack gave a low laugh, and lowered his head to kiss his shoulder. “I like it.”  
Not the response he’d been expecting, but in hindsight, he shouldn’t have been surprised if Jack thought it was some kind of game. The man did enjoy his games.  
Jack shifted, pressing even closer, leaving nothing between them, making it apparent that he was feeling much warmer, especially in certain places.  
“Jack, you’re—”  
“Well, what’d you expect? I’m in a shower with a gorgeous naked Welshman.” Jack’s lips brushed his ear, sending a shudder though him. “It’s inevitable that certain things are going to happen.”  
Ianto shifted away, but only far enough to turn and lean against the tiles. His pulse was thrumming and now heat was washing through him in waves.  
“What kind of things?”  
Jack closed in on him, bracing his hands against the wall on either side of him. “I could tell you. Or I could show you.”  
His heart skipped a few beats. “A demonstration definitely seems in order.”  
Jack’s lips quirked upwards in a wicked smile a second before he leaned in and kissed him on the neck. Then lower, on his collarbone. Then lower again, on his chest. And then Jack dropped to his knees.  
“Oh God,” he uttered on an exhale. He definitely wasn’t cold anymore.


	7. Chapter 7

Jack adjusted the blanket covering Ianto from where it had slipped to the side a little. After showering and getting into dry clothes together, he’d left Ianto to lay down on the couch, not worried about letting him sleep now that he was warm again.  
Ianto had been out of almost as soon as his head had hit the pillow, and though Jack had been more than a little tempted to snuggle up next to him and doze for a few hours as well—almost getting hypothermia really did take it out of a person—he hadn’t allowed himself the luxury.  
Instead he’d gotten on the comms to find out how Gwen and Lisa were going, and ended up doing what once would have been Tosh’s job—helping them navigate the city from behind the hub’s extensive computer equipment.  
The two women had tracked the rift-jumper for nearly two hours, but then he’d obviously found some way to cloak himself, because the residual energy they’d been reading had suddenly dropped into nothingness. Jack didn’t think the guy had left their reality. There’d been no spike in energy and no alert from the rift monitor—now adjusted to recognize the output used by beings crossing realities, not just time and space.   
He’d told Gwen and Lisa to return to the hub and then started searching the archive records for a specific item that’d been at the edge of his mind all day. He couldn’t remember what they’d called it or what it might have been filed under, but it was a kind of black crystalline rock they’d found a few years ago that literally drained any energy source within a five-hundred-foot radius. They’d had to seal it in a specially-line box so it didn’t affect the hub’s power grid.  
Ianto would have found it in two seconds flat, and by the time Gwen and Lisa walked in, he was regretting his decision not to wake Ianto to ask him.  
“Jack?” Gwen called out as she crossed by the computer consoles.  
“In here,” he replied, pushing back from his desk to stand and stretch his stiff muscles as he headed out of his office. He was still a little achy from the unplanned swim in the bay.  
“Is Ianto okay?” Gwen asked as she and Lisa stopped just across from him on the gangway over the water. She’d already asked when he’d first contacted her on the comms for an update, but he could still see a shadow of concern in her gaze. Both her and Lisa.  
“He’s fine. Sleeping it off.”  
“I’m awake now,” Ianto murmured, voice slightly husky as he came down the stairs from the mezzanine. He had the blanket wrapped around his shoulders and his hair was sticking out all over the place. God, he looked so adorable.  
“Jack.” Gwen’s voice held a note of exasperated impatience.  
He tore his attention from Ianto to see her shaking her head at him and Lisa looking amused.  
“Not sorry,” he told them with a grin. “Conference room. Meeting time.”  
He jogged past them, catching up with Ianto who’d turned to head back up the stairs. Jack had to slip his hands into his pockets to keep himself from reaching out for Ianto as he followed a step behind while they walked up to the conference room. He had to maintain some balance of power in this relationship… or the illusion of it, anyway. Plus, relationships at work could be a bad idea. He’d told Ianto exactly that the first night they’d slept together. So, most of the time he tried to keep work at work and Ianto for after hours. It didn’t always play out that way, especially when they inadvertently ended up in the shower together.  
As Ianto took his usual seat at the conference table, Jack couldn’t help the grin as he met Ianto’s gaze on the way past to the front of the room. Ianto rolled his eyes, but Jack could tell it’d left him thinking about that shower as well.  
He brought up a map of the city on the large screen hanging from the wall, showing the path the rift-jumper had taken through the city until they’d lost him.  
“How are we going to find him now?” Gwen asked as she sat across from Ianto, while Lisa sat next to him.  
“We won’t have to,” he answered, studying the route the rift-jumper had been on when he’d disappeared. “He’s going to have to come back here eventually if he wants to charge his wristband properly. The hub is built over the most concentrated and volatile part of the rift.”  
“What if he finds some other power source to use?” Ianto asked. “Is it possible, for him to use another kind of energy?”  
Jack turned to look at him. “Why do you ask that?”  
Ianto nodded his chin toward the screen, still holding the blanket around his shoulders like he was chilly. “It’s just that, the path he took through the city doesn’t exactly seem random. It’s direct. And where he disappeared, that’s right down the block from ExerGen Labs.”  
Jack swore under his breath and looked back at the map. Sure enough, Ianto was right. He was almost always right because he knew more about Cardiff and Torchwood than anyone. If anything ever happened to him, they’d pretty much be screwed.  
“What’s ExerGen Labs?” Gwen asked.  
“They’ve been on our watch list for a few years,” Jack answered, crossing his arms. “They develop cutting edge power or energy sources. The things they’re trying to achieve are decades ahead of this time. It’s possible they got their hands on some alien tech that they’re either trying to retro-produce or replicate, but we’ve never been able to prove it.”  
“So theoretically if they do have some kind of alien battery—” Ianto started with an ominous tone in his voice.  
“Then possibly the rift-jumper could power his wristband and escape this reality without needing to come back here after all,” Jack finished.  
“We need to get to ExerGen Labs right away.” Lisa got to her feet, all ready to dash out in pursuit again. Though he hated to admit it, she’d make one hell of an addition to his Torchwood team. It was obvious why other-reality-him had given her a job.  
“Before we go, there’s one thing we haven’t discussed.” And he didn’t want to discuss it now, but he couldn’t put if off any longer. Things were coming to a head, and if the rift-jumper escaped before they got to ExerGen Labs, then he wanted them all to be prepared.  
“Even if we catch this guy, we have to be prepared for the possibility that we can’t send you back, Lisa.”  
His words dropped like a stone into water, sending shockwaves through them all like ripples, especially Ianto and Lisa who looked at each other like they didn’t know what they were supposed to make of that.  
An edge of desperation had entered Lisa’s expression. “But if we can get his device—”  
“For all we know it’s completely random and he’s got no control over which reality he ends up in. And even though we’re going to do our best to nab him, the fact is, he could get away before we can do that. And then—"  
“I’ll be stuck here,” she whispered, glancing away as tears dampened her lashes. “But what will I do if I can’t go back?”  
Ianto stood and set a gentle hand on her shoulder. “We’ll figure it out. It’ll be okay.”  
“But it won’t be okay.” Lisa looked up at Ianto. “Because my husband will be left wondering what happened to me for the rest of his life. And I’ll have to see you every day. Looking like him. Smiling like him. Talking like him. But in love with somebody else. How am I supposed to live with any of that?”  
“I’m sorry, Lisa.” Jack knew the words were totally inadequate, and the smouldering in his stomach made him feel like he was somehow already failing her. Failing Ianto. “We’re going to do everything in our power to make sure that doesn’t happen.”  
Lisa looked back at him, determination burning in her gaze. “Then let’s stop talking and get moving.”  
“Are you up for this?” He glanced at Ianto who’d taken the blanket from his shoulders and quickly folded it, leaving it draped over the back of the chair he’d been sitting on.  
“I’ll go and bring the SUV around,” he said in way of answering.  
“Before you do, I need to know. That black crystal thing we found a few years ago, the one that drains energy—”  
“That would be stored under potentially dangerous items. I think we called it the negator.”  
He sent Ianto an exasperated look. “Who named it that?”  
Ianto’s returning smile was a little self-depreciating, but not the least bit repentant. “I organise the archives, I get to name things. Feel free to take over any time you like.”  
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” He nodded toward the door. “We’ll meet you up at the water tower.”  
Ianto sent Lisa one last reassuring glance before hurrying out.  
Gwen followed after him, and as Jack rounded the conference table, he noticed Lisa hesitating.  
“Something wrong?” he asked, stopping a few steps away.  
“It’s probably none of my business, especially if I’m getting my trip back to my own reality shortly.”  
Oh, he loved it when people started something with _it’s probably none of my business_. He crossed his arms, settling a cautioning look on her. “Go on.”  
“You know he loves you, right?” She stared hard at him, like she was trying to see into the depths of him.  
He didn’t answer right away, wondering what she saw when she looked at him.  
“I just need to know that you’re taking this seriously. I know he’s not my Ianto, but I still don’t want to see him get hurt.”  
“You won’t see it, because you won’t be here,” he answered, watching closely for her reaction, trying to see why Ianto had loved her so deeply, if they were maybe alike in some ways.  
“You know what I mean,” she replied in exasperation. “When Ianto does things, he throws himself into it completely. There is no half measure for him. He loves you, Jack, maybe more than he loved me, as hard as that is to say. He’ll give you everything of himself; his trust, his loyalty, his devotion. He’d even give you his life, if it came to that. I need to know he’s not going to get his heart broken.”  
Despite everything that’d happen to her; getting tossed through the rift, thinking for a short while that her husband was cheating on her, coming to terms with being in a different reality, and just now being told she might not be able to go home, he had to respect that she cared so much about Ianto to confront him about their relationship.  
“I’m serious about him, Lisa. More serious than I’ve been about anyone in a long time. If you want to go on my track record, whenever this is over between us, I’m more likely to be the one who ends up with a broken heart. Believe me.” He stepped past her, because admitting that was making his throat tight, and while he might be willing to say the words, he didn’t want her to see how deep they gouged him. “Come on, we better not keep Ianto waiting or he’ll have that look when we get into the SUV.”  
Lisa laughed as she came after him. “Oh yeah. I know that look. The disapproving one. It is cute though. Sometimes I annoy him just so I can see it.”  
He grinned over his shoulder at her. “I’ve done it a time or two myself. Touching the coffee machine is usually the easiest way.”  
“Ianto better hope we can send me home. Otherwise he’s going to have to put up with the two of us tormenting him into an early grave.”  
Jack gave a light laugh as they caught up with Gwen. But truthfully, he was hoping like hell they could get Lisa home. He definitely wasn’t interested in spending the rest of his relationship competing with Lisa for Ianto’s attention.


	8. Chapter 8

Ianto pulled the SUV to a stop outside of ExerGen Labs. Since it was the middle of the afternoon, people were coming and going through the glass sliding doors. There was a guard at a security station just inside and no doubt the building was filled to the brim with staff.

“How are we going to do this?” Gwen asked from where she sat in the backseat with Lisa. “Should we evacuate the building, maybe set off the fire alarm?”

“Unless there’s an actual fire,” Jack replied distractedly as he stared at the building like he was thinking things through. “The rift-jumper will know something is up. It’ll tip him off.”

“Well then.” He sent Jack an expectant look. “We’ll have to make it convincing.”

“Ianto, we are not setting an actual fire.”

“Not even just a small one?” He held his hand up with his fingers a few centimetres apart.

“No fires. And no alarms.” He motioned to one of the SUV’s onboard computers. “See if you can hack the building’s security systems.”

He pulled the computer on the dashboard around and set Torchwood’s advanced computer into ExerGen Lab’s systems. Mostly the computer ran itself, like some kind of AI, though he’d never asked Jack if it was that or where it had come from. Point it in a direction and it intuitively did what they needed, apart from the really complicated stuff that Tosh used to take care of.

In a matter of seconds, he had full access to ExerGen’s supposedly top-of-the-line security systems.

“And what am I doing once I’ve hacked in?” He glanced at Jack, who was waiting patiently, blue gaze steady on him.

“Put us on the guest list, we’re going on a tour.”

“So you won’t let us set off a fire alarm because you don’t want to tip off the rift-jumper, but you think walking in the front door is a better plan?” Gwen’s voice held a note of exasperated disbelief. “Oh, sure. He won’t see that coming at all.”

Jack shot her an annoyed look. “It’s not like I’m going to announce it over the PA system. If they’ve got some kind of alien power source in there, the best way to find it is to have someone take us straight to it. Searching the entire building will take too long and the rift-jumper could get to it before us.”

“Your future BFF you mean,” he mumbled as he accessed ExerGen’s schedule and got them added to the list.

“Yes, thank you, Ianto.” Jack turned the annoyed look on him and he had to bite his lip to stop from grinning. Jack hated it when he and Gwen ganged up on him, which was why they did it so often. “Are you done?”

He tapped in a few last details and then closed the program. “Your two-fifteen appointment is all set, sir.”

Jack arched an eyebrow at him as he pushed the SUV door open. It was rare that he called Jack _sir_ these days, and clealry Jack had gotten a kick out of it. Probably reminded him of the first few months when they’d been hooking up casually but hiding it from everyone else, those days when he’d usually referred to Jack and _sir_ and nothing else.

He climbed out of the SUV, walking around to grab the case out of the back that Jack had loaded earlier and then joined him, Gwen and Lisa on the footpath. He hit the button to lock the SUV and pocketed the keys as they made their way inside and straight over to the security desk.

Jack stepped ahead, shooting the guard behind the counter a friendly smile.

“Captain Jack Harkness. We have an appointment.”

“With?” the guard replied disinterestedly.

Jack glanced over his shoulder, shooting him a questioning look. But all he could do was shrug in response. He hadn’t actually made them an appointment with any particular person, he’d just put them on the schedule to be let in.

“We’re not here to see anyone.” Jack’s gaze hinted at his exasperation before he glanced back at the guard. “We’re Torchwood, we’re here to do an inspection.”

Now they had the guard’s attention. “Torchwood? What kind of inspection?”

“Health and safety,” Jack announced with a hint of amusement, not taking things all that seriously as usual. “It’s a surprise inspection."

“A surprise inspection that you got scheduled?” The guard wasn’t buying it. He got to his feet.

“Oh yes, nice going, Jack,” Gwen muttered from behind him.

“I need to call Doctor Stevens down here,” the guard picked up the phone, shooting Jack suspicious glances as he made his call.

“Do we really have time for this?” Lisa asked in a quiet voice. “We lost the rift-jumper almost an hour ago, he could already be here.”

“Exactly,” Jack murmured in return. “So announcing our presence by forcing our way in will only spook him. The energy transfer to recharge his wristband is going to be massive. The second he starts, we’re going to know about it.”

He tapped his own wristband to make his point, presumably because he’d set it to alert him to any changes in energy levels around the city.

A woman in a white lab coat with dark hair in a messy bun and square glasses approached them. The guard pointed at Jack and she nodded.

“Captain?” She held out her hand as she stopped in front of him, and Jack shook it, holding onto her fingers just a touch longer than necessary, sending her a practised smile, charm in full affect.

“Doctor Stevens, I presume. Or can I call you Catherine?” He gestured at the security badge clipped to her coat with her full name on it.

She tugged her hand back with a tight smile. “Sorry, but I somehow missed you being on our schedule today. Usually these things are approved by me, so I’m not sure how—”

Jack took her elbow and tugged her closer, leaning in. “I’m going to be straight with you, Catherine—”

“Doctor Stevens,” she corrected firmly. It seemed she was determined not to be charmed by Jack’s usual swagger.

Jack wasn’t so easily deterred. He simply shifted in closer, smile taking on an extra-flirty edge as if he had something vitally important to tell her. “We have reason to believe there may be someone either in the building or on their way here who intends to steal something from you.”

“Well, if they are, they’ll be wasting their time. We have top of the line security—”

“Actually, your security isn’t that great,” he interrupted, gaining Doctor Stevens’ attention from Jack.

Her expression took on an indignant edge. “I assure you, this practically the most secure building in Cardiff.”

“Except it really isn’t. I literally just hacked this place while sitting in an SUV on the street outside to get us added to the schedule.”

Both her eyebrows hiked upward as she passed a glance between him and Jack. “Who are you people?”

“We’re Torchwood,” Jack replied in his usual I-mean-business tone, along with that intent look he got like there was nothing more important in the world.

Ianto rolled his eyes. Jack bloody loved announcing that to people. For a secret organization, they sure tossed the name around a lot.

“So you need to take this seriously and let us do our job,” Jack continued.

“And if I don’t?”

Jack set his shoulders, like he was all ready for battle. “Then we’re going to do it anyway, and we won’t play nice. Believe me, you won’t enjoy it one bit.”

“I’m sorry,” Doctor Stevens crossed her arms. “We have sensitive material on the premises—”

“Sensitive material? Or extra-terrestrial material?” Jack demanded.

Doctor Stevens’ posture tightened, and it was clear she knew exactly what Jack was talking about, but wasn’t going to admit to anything. “Sorry, but I’m not at liberty to talk about any projects with members of the public. Now if you’ll excuse me.”

She went to turn away, but Jack grabbed her arm. “Walking away is a big mistake, Doctor Stevens, and I don’t think it’s one you want to make today.”

Doctor Stevens didn’t answer, but looked over at the security guard behind the desk. “Please see Captain Harkness and his associates escorted off the premises.”

Stubborn anger edged into Jack’s features. “We not going—”An alarm wailing to life interrupted his words. “–Anywhere,” he finished, tone almost sounding like a question. “Ianto, I need to know what that alarm is.”

“On it,” he hurried around the security desk and shoved the gaping security guard out of the way to access the lab’s computers.

“He’s here,” Lisa said. “That’s got to be him. He must be going for the tech—whatever it is.”

“Quick,” Jack grabbed Doctor Stevens on both shoulders as if he wanted to make sure she couldn’t get away. “Enough stalling. You need to tell me what alien tech you have here.”

“I can’t. I signed a non-disclosure—”

“No offense, lady,” Ianto cut in, frustrated as he flicked through the security cameras to find half of them had gone off-line. “But I think some ballocks non-disclosure agreement is the least of your troubles right now. And I can’t see a bloody thing! Jack, he’s taken out the cameras.”

“Case. Now.” Jack came over as he swung the case up onto the counter.

“What are you going to do?” Doctor Stevens demanded as she stepped up beside Jack.

Jack flipped the clasps on the case, but paused before he opened it.

“We need to cut the power right now, including your backup generator. We’ve got a device that will drain all the energy within five hundred metres of here. This building is about to go dark.” He glanced over at the windows where sunlight was streaming in. “Well, not literally.”

“You can’t!” Doctor Stevens laid both hands on top of the case to stop him from opening it.

“Why not?”

“We have volatile substances stored that need to be kept at a constant temperature without the slightest variation. Any change and—” She didn’t finish, but the tension in her features spoke loud and clear.

“And?” Jack prompted with an ominous tone to his voice like he already knew the answer.

“And they explode with enough force to wipe out an entire city block.”

“Why the hell would you store substances that dangerous in the middle of a city?” Ianto demanded. Though, he supposed they couldn’t really talk. Some of the stuff they had stored in the archives below the hub had the potential to wipe out the entire planet.

Jack pointed at Doctor Stevens. “You and I are going to have a serious conversation about that later. But right now, you’re going to show me where you’ve got your alien tech stashed.”

For a moment, Doctor Steven stared apprehensively at him, but finally she nodded.

“Fourth level. We’ll take the lift.”

“Ianto, stay here and see if you can fix those cameras. Lisa, you back him up. Gwen, with me.”

Jack started to turn, but he’d barely taken a step when the computers shut down, the lights went off, and the building’s electricity shut down with a dissipating hum into silence.

Jack glanced down at Doctor Stevens with an uneasy frown.

“How long does it usually take the backup generators to kick in?”

“Less than minute,” Doctor Stevens said, glancing around, her eyes wide.

“And if they don’t, how long before those sensitive materials hit critical mass?”

“Fifteen minutes at the most. Why isn’t the backup generator coming on?”

“I know just the person we need to ask,” Jack replied, reaching down to pull his gun out of the holster on his belt. “But first we have to find him.”


	9. Chapter 9

Stairs. Ianto hated bloody stairs. Ever since that time he’d gotten locked in the hub with Jack who’d been out of his mind on an alien virus and trying to kill him. He’d spent half the time climbing up and down the stairs from the archives and vaults up into the main hub because the lockdown had cut the power and the lifts hadn’t been working. It’d either been that or let Jack kill him.  
He’d also been unhelpfully followed around by a snarky projection of one of Jack’s many ex-lovers from the 1950s who’d spent fifty percent of the time helping him and the other fifty percent telling Jack where he was because to him it’d been highly entertaining.  
By the twentieth flight that day, his legs had been aching so much he’d actually considered letting Jack have him. When Jack had finally come to his senses, he’d vowed to avoid stairs in the future at all cost.  
So even though they only had four floors to go up, by the time they got there he was coming up with all sorts of inventive ways to punish the rift-jumper. Not to mention he owed him for the swim in the bay that’d nearly frozen him to death.  
Jack had scanned with his wristband and told them he was getting a reading on the fourth floor from something interrupting the building’s power. They slowed at they came up the final flight of stairs, the only sound was the soft echoing of them trying to hurry up the steps quietly.  
Doctor Stevens went to push through the door on the fourth level, but Jack held her back.  
“It could be dangerous, you should stay here. Just tell us where.”  
She pulled her security badge from where it was clipped to her coat and handed it over. “You’ll need this to get into the lab. If you head down the corridor, it’s the second door on the left.”  
Jack took the badge and murmured a thanks to her before looking over at the rest of them. “Ready?”  
Ianto reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his gun, Gwen and Lisa doing the same. Doctor Stevens backed up, clearly wanting to be out of the way of whatever was coming next.  
“Gwen, you stick with me,” Jack said. “Ianto, Lisa, I want you to see if you can get the power back on. We’ve only got ten minutes until this place is nothing but a burning crater.”  
They all murmured their agreements, then Jack nodded to him. While Jack held his gun ready in a two-handed grip, Ianto reached down and gripped the doorhandle, pushing it open for Jack to go through first, coat flaring out slightly as he spun quickly. Ianto followed after him, keeping his breathing steady as he searched for any threats.  
The corridor was dim, lined with windows looking into various labs. The staff inside were all looking concerned and confused, especially as the four of them proceeded down the hall with their guns out. Gwen paused to open a few doors and quietly tell people they needed to evacuate.  
There was a kind of flashing coming from the windows in the second lab on the left. Jack paused at the internal wall break, and then leaned over to look through.  
“He’s in there. Along with four staff, all standing against the far wall.”  
“Great, because hostages are just what this situation needs,” he muttered.  
“There’s some kind of device sitting on one of the benches, that’s what’s flashing. My guess is it’s the alien tech and at the moment its interfering with the building’s power,” Jack continued, glancing back at them. “We need to work fast, but be careful, alright?”  
Jack didn’t wait for them to agree this time, but walked along the windows, gaining the attention of the rift-jumper before he’d even reached the door. Ianto cautiously followed, keeping his gun lowered, but ready as he followed Jack into the room. Gwen and Lisa quickly went over to reassure the four staff members and put themselves protectively in front of the small group.  
“Ah, Torchwood is here!” The rift-jumper announced. He was fiddling with his wrist band, causing sparks to leap between his arm and the device on the bench. “Woo, tingly. So glad you came, this would have been dead boring otherwise.”  
Jack slowly brought his gun up. “We need to turn the power back on in this building. There are unstable materials—”  
“That will explode if they experience even the slightest change in temperature. Blah blah blah. Not really caring, because in exactly two-point-four-three minutes I won’t be here any longer.”  
“I’m only giving you one warning.” Jack edged closer. “Turn off the device and hand over the wristband.”  
The rift-jumper tsked at him. “What are you going to do, Jack? Lock me in those vaults you’ve got down in the hub? I haven’t actually done anything wrong. Not in this reality, anyway.”  
Jack eased closer, rounding the bench and then glancing back at Ianto to nod toward the device. Taking the hint, Ianto shifted closer, running a gaze over the device, trying to see where or how to shut it down.  
“You’re right,” Jack replied, gaining the rift-jumper’s attention. “Technically you haven’t done anything wrong—that I’m aware of. So why don’t you help us? Take Lisa back to her own reality and then you can go on your way.”  
“Nope, can’t go back there.” The rift-jumper grinned at him. “Because the other Jack was kind of pissed at me.”  
“Oh yeah? What did you do?” Jack demanded.  
The rift-jumper’s gaze slid over to him, and Ianto found himself the centre of attention, the guy staring at him with a sly look.  
“Let’s just say I messed with him in a way he wasn’t going to get over any time soon.”  
Jack threw a questioning glance at Lisa, but she shrugged. “I have no idea what he did. Just that Jack wanted him captured. He was pretty angry, though.”  
“Ianto, you worked out how to switch that thing off yet?” Jack said without looking at him, keeping his attention fixed on the rift-jumper.  
Ianto returned his concentration to the device, focusing on a row of small buttons with lights above them flashing in a repeating sequence. “Maybe.”  
Jack’s lips pressed together for a moment as he regarded the rift-jumper. “Maybe will have to be enough today. Do it.”  
Ianto quickly closed the remaining distance to the bench, and the rift-jumper started to come at him from the other side, but Jack stepped in and set his gun against the guy’s temple, making him freeze.  
“No, you don’t.”  
Quickly leaning down, Ianto started pressing buttons, from front to back, going in the opposite direction to the repeating flash pattern and praying he was right. Getting blown up hadn’t been on his to-do list today.  
The device gave a final flash and then stopped. He caught his breath, body tensing, expecting the worst. But the lights in the ceiling above them flickered as the hum of equipment around them buzzed back to life. Thank God.  
“Now, put your hands out nice and slowly.” Jack pulled a pair of cuffs from his pocket.  
The rift-jumper sent him a smug grin.  
“Love to.” He reached his arms out, slapping a hand over his wristband and then grabbing a handful of Jack’s coat as blue light and energy arced out from the device, up along his arm to envelope both of them. “Say bye-bye, Captain.”  
“Jack!” Heart pounding desperately against the inside of his chest, Ianto dodged around the bench and wrapped his arms around Jack, yanking him back. For a second, the energy licked over his skin, sparking and pricking like tiny needles, and a force pulled at him like getting sucked into a whirlpool. But he planted his feet and strained back until suddenly the resistance snapped them both free. They fell in a heap on the floor, Jack half on top of him.  
A blinding blue flash lit up the room and by the time it faded, the rift-jumper had disappeared. For a second, Ianto just laid there, looking up at the ceiling, still gripping Jack, trying to get his breath back as his heart thundered against his ribs. That’d been close.  
“No!” Lisa ran over to the spot the rift-jumper had been standing, devastation in her features. She dropped into a crouch and put her face in her hands.  
Jack shifted, half-rolling and bringing his head up to look down at him.  
“Are you okay?” Jack murmured, gaze searching his.  
“Yep. You?”  
Jack sent him a gorgeous half-smile. “I’m still in this reality, thanks to you.”  
“Well I figured wherever he was going, there was bound to be a version of you already there. Think the universe would probably collapse if you ever met yourself.”  
Jack gave a quick laugh. “You’re probably right. Why do you think I’ve spent half of this century avoiding myself?”  
“One can only imagine,” he replied dryly.  
Jack pushed back and got to his feet, then held out a hand to help him up. He tugged just a little too hard, and Ianto ended up against his chest once he was upright.  
“Remind me to sincerely thank you later on,” Jack murmured into his ear, the tone in his voice sending a ripple of heat through him.  
He cleared his throat, pulling his clothes straight as he stepped out of Jack’s hold, who was grinning shamelessly. Shaking his head, he turned away to where Gwen was kneeling down next to Lisa. Ianto went over and crouched on her other side.  
“Lisa, I’m sorry.” He set a hand on her shoulder. She turned into him, shoulders shaking, but not quite crying. Wrapping both arms around her, he held tightly for a few long moments, all too aware that he wasn’t the one he really needed. It was weird to think there was another version of him out there somewhere, now going through the same grief he’d been through two years ago. Except maybe it would be worse for the other him—the not knowing.  
At least he’d been able to bury his Lisa. As terrible as it’d been, he’d eventually found closure and been able to put it behind him. But what would that be like, not knowing what had happened to her? How would a person ever put that behind them? There would be no closure, because a part of you would always wonder what if.  
Jack came over and crouched down as well. “Lisa, I’m not going to lie to you. Shifting through realities is almost impossible, but I know someone who has managed to do it. He’s hard to get in contact with, and I don’t even know if he’ll be able to do it. But we’re going to do everything in our power to get you home, okay?”  
She sat back from him, nodding as she looked over at Jack. “I know. I’m not going to give up. Even if it takes years.”  
“That’s what I like to hear.” Jack reached out and swiped a tear off her cheek with gentle fingers, sending her an encouraging smile. “Come on, let’s get back to the hub.”  
Jack glanced at him, then reached over and cupped his cheek briefly, reassuringly, probably because he had tears in his own eyes—partly over Lisa’s plight, but also because of the way Jack clearly cared about her because he knew this was important to him. God, Jack could be amazing when he wanted to be. No wonder his heart hadn’t stood a chance.


	10. Chapter 10

Unsurprisingly, everyone’s mood was pretty sombre when they got back to the hub. Jack supposed he should have said something to reassure them all, but he couldn’t come up with anything that wouldn’t sound hollow at best. The fact was they’d lost this one. The rift-jumper had gotten away and Lisa was stuck in the wrong reality.

Somewhere out there was another Ianto, going through the heartbreak of losing Lisa, just like his Ianto had two years ago. It made him wonder about the patterns of the universe. Was Ianto destined to lose her in every reality? Or was it just a coincidence that in the reality where she’d survived Canary Warf, a different tragedy had struck the couple. Lisa wasn’t dead this time, but considering she had no way of getting back to her own timeline, she might as well be to those she’d left behind.

As soon as they’d walked through the blast doors, Ianto had gone to make everyone coffee, while Gwen had mumbled something about checking the rift monitor. Lisa had followed her and studied the screens over Gwen’s shoulder, as if looking for an answer in the readouts.

Jack had shrugged out of his coat, hanging it up in his office and then dropping to sit behind his desk, tired all of a sudden. He closed his eyes, the weariness taking over for a moment. It wasn’t just a physical exhaustion—it was emotional and psychological as well.

He’d lived so long, been through so much. He’d had to learn how to put painful things behind him and keep going. And when it came to the big things, like when Tosh and Owen had died, he’d let himself be sad for a while, but then he’d kept forging forward like he always did. But sometimes it was the small things—the details that probably seemed insignificant in comparison—that snuck up and got him when he least expected it.

Truthfully, he should be looking on the bright side. This could have all turned out worse. ExerGen Labs could have exploded killing hundreds of people, including Gwen and Ianto. He could have been digging himself out of rubble right now instead of sitting safe in the hub where everyone he cared about was alive and well. Yep, it was all about perspective.

“Maybe I should have poured you a whiskey instead of bringing you coffee.”

He opened his eyes to see Ianto setting a cup on his desk, steam gently rising from the black coffee.

“Definitely later,” he reached over and picked it up to take a sip—perfect temperature like always.

Ianto shifted to sit on the edge of his desk near his elbow like he often did.

“What are we going to do about Lisa?”

“Keep looking for a way to send her home,” he answered, even though he knew that wasn’t what Ianto had meant.

“And in the meantime?” Ianto persisted, never one to give up until he got answers.

“Honestly, I don’t know. Do I send her away, set her up with a life somewhere she won’t run into anyone who used to know her, while we search for a way to get her back to her own reality? Which might never happen. Or do I let her stay here and join the team? You know her, you know me. And no one knows Torchwood like you. What do you think we should do?”

Ianto’s gaze was wary as he stared down at him. “I can’t make an impartial call on that.”

Jack shifted to face him, leaning closer and setting a hand on his knee. “But you’ll do the right thing. You always do the right thing.”

“You know that’s not true, Jack.” Ianto glanced away from him, brow creasing as his expression became troubled. “I’ve made plenty of mistakes.”

“Yeah, but your heart was in the right place when you made them.” He smoothed his hand gently over Ianto’s knee, trying to reassure him.

“That hasn’t made my mistakes any less costly.” He sighed, glancing down at where his hands were clasped between his knees. “If it was me, I wouldn’t want to be sent away somewhere and leave someone else to find the answers. I’d want to be here, doing everything I could to fix things.”

It was straying close to exactly what he’d done when Lisa had died. Ianto had stubbornly won his respect—and admittedly, caught his interest in a very different way—so he could bring Lisa to the Torchwood hub because he’d been desperate to help her. Jack had never had a clue even the slightest thing might be wrong with Ianto, that he’d been hiding such a huge secret from the first day he’d stepped into the hub, to the day they’d found out about Lisa.

The betrayal of it still made his guts pinch sometimes, because though he flirted with people all the time, he’d thought he and Ianto had a different connection, an extra spark. They did have an extra spark, he hadn’t been wrong about that. He just hadn’t realized back then it’d mostly been an act on Ianto’s part to cover for the fact he had the woman he loved stashed in the bowels of the hub, a ticking time-bomb none of them had seen coming.

“So you think we should let her join the team?”

Ianto finally looked at him. “It’s not my choice, Jack. It shouldn’t be my choice. You need to make the decision.”

“I will.” He added a confident nod to the words. “I just needed your thoughts on things.”

Ianto sent him a small smile and got to his feet. “I better get the negator back into the archives. Not the kind of case you want to be forgetting about and accidentally opening later on because you can’t remember what’s inside.”

Jack grinned. “Don’t pretend like you don’t know what’s in every single case stashed around this place.”

Ianto shrugged, the action with a self-depreciating hint to it. “It might be my superpower.”

Jack reached out and grabbed the lapel of his jacket, tugging him down.

“It’s one of them, anyway.” He leaned up like he was going to kiss him, but then just grinned. “Off you go then.”

Jack let him go again and turned back to his coffee.

At first Ianto looked a little dazed, but then he frowned as he pulled his jacket straight, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like _bloody sodding tease_ as he walked off.

Jack laughed quietly to himself and opened his laptop to start writing a report on the situation with Lisa for the archive records. A quiet moment with Ianto and things didn’t seem to weigh so heavily on him any longer.

A few hours later, Gwen ducked her head into his office to say she was heading home. He’d gotten so caught up in paperwork, he hadn’t noticed the time going by.

“Before you go, can you ask Ianto—”

“He already left,” she interrupted before he could finish the thought.

“He did?”

Gwen’s expression turned somewhat bemused. “He did tell you, obviously you weren’t paying attention. He took Lisa back to his flat. She was pretty well done in, poor girl.”

He did have a vague memory of Ianto calling out something to him. He might have even replied, but Gwen was right, he hadn’t really been listening.

“Guess it’s just me then.” He sent Gwen an easy smile and nodded his chin toward the blast door. “Off you go, Rhys won’t want you to be late for dinner.”

“You’ll be okay?” She hesitated, like was thinking about coming up with a reason to stay.

“Always am.”

Gwen didn’t look convinced, but she backed up a few steps. “Alright, then. See you in the morning.”

He waved her off and then turned his attention back to the laptop, but he wasn’t in the mood for any more paperwork. He closed it and folded his hands on top, letting the quiet of the hub wash over him. It wasn’t ever really completely silent. Too much equipment and things running in the background, plus the constant trickle of water from the tower.

What he was really trying not to do was wonder what Lisa and Ianto were up to right now. Making a meal together? Ordering take out? Talking about the similarities and differences of their shared memories with different versions of each other?

He dragged a hand over his face, muttering a curse. Pathetic, sitting her like an abandoned puppy, wondering when he was going to get some attention next. Lisa was here for the foreseeable future, so like every other unpleasant thing he’d ever faced in his life, he just had to find a way to deal with it. And if it meant Ianto and Lisa— well, he’d bow out gracefully. Really, whatever made Ianto happy… even if it was going to be like gouging a hole in his own chest with his bare hands.

The blast doors clunked out of place and rolled back with their usual clicking noise. Gwen had probably forgotten her phone, or her keys, or her jacket. It was always something.

He pushed up and walked out of the office, glad to have the company again, even if it was only for a minute or two. He needed an escape from his own thoughts.

“What did you forget?” he called out as he rounded the base of the water tower.

“Nothing,” Ianto replied, holding up two pizza boxes. “I brought dinner.”

Jack stopped at the top of the stairs and slid his hands into his pockets as Ianto went over and put the pizzas on the coffee table in front of the couch.

“What about Lisa?”

“I told her she could stay in my flat until we figured something else out.” Ianto unbuttoned his suit jacket and then slipped it off, carelessly tossing it toward one of the work stations. He then loosened his tie and undid the top button on his shirt.

“You only have one bed.” The words came out before he could stop them and Ianto shot him a knowing look, crossing the distance between them to stop a few steps away.

“Which is why I said she could take it. I know the little cubby you’ve got underneath your office is cosy, but I figured you wouldn’t mind sharing.”

“Did you, now?” It was ridiculous, but a surge of warmth flooded him at the fact Ianto had chosen to come back here and be with him when he easily could have slept on his couch to keep Lisa company. “Will she be alright on her own?”

“I think she needed it—to be alone—at least for tonight. Seeing me, having me there, I think it’d remind her too much of what she’s lost.” He slowly came closer, leaving them less than a step apart. “I’m not him, and I can’t be him. Not when my heart is otherwise occupied.”

“Really?” He could help the grin stealing over him. “Whoever captured your heart, they’re a lucky person. Hope they appreciate it.”

“You would think so.” Ianto shifted nearer until their chests were almost brushing, but didn’t touch him. Yet it still made his breath catch. “But he’s always telling me what to do, acting like he’s the boss.”

“Giving you orders? Like _kiss me_.” Jack murmured, gaze dropping to his mouth, already imagining exactly how good it was going to feel when Ianto finally touched him.

“Sounds about right,” Ianto replied with a serious nod.

“Kiss me, Ianto.”

He shook his head in response, only the smallest movement. Amusement sparked in his blue eyes. Clearly this was Ianto getting him back for his teasing earlier.

“No?” He arched a brow. “Then I guess we have a stalemate.”

“I guess so,” Ianto replied, sounding like he planned on holding out for a long while yet.

They stared at each other, and with each passing second, Jack had to use every ounce of willpower he possessed not to make the first move. Ianto’s smile widened, as if he could clearly see the struggle going on within him.

“Ah, hell,” he muttered. He broke, clamping a hand on the back of Ianto’s neck and pulling him in as he closed the small amount of distance between them.

Their mouths fused together, landing him straight into a deep, breath-stealing kiss without any warning. Ianto finally touched him, hands settling on his waist and pulling him in tighter, pressing their bodies together.

The need for him—to feel Ianto’s skin bare against his own—hit him hard and fast, leaving him desperate to rip off every bit of clothing between them.

Jack tugged Ianto’s already loose tie free and flicked it aside, before starting on his shirt buttons.

Ianto broke the kiss, breathing unsteady, but Jack wasn’t deterred, he trailed his lips over Ianto’s jaw, the slightest hint of abrasive stubble sending a stronger surge of heat through him.

“What about the pizza?” Ianto asked, words uneven. “It’ll get cold.”

Jack finished with the buttons, tugging Ianto’s shirt free from his pants and then hooking his fingers into Ianto’s belt buckle.

“Then I guess we’ll have to reheat it.”

Ianto sighed as if it was the most inconvenient thing he’d ever heard of. “It’s never as good reheated.”

Jack yanked his belt open. “You really want to eat now?”

“No.” Ianto stepped back, though Jack didn’t relinquish his hold on Ianto’s belt. Ianto ran a considering gaze over him. “I want you on that couch, with your clothes off. Now.”

“Oh, is this the part when I say _yes sir_?” He went to get closer, but Ianto stayed at arm’s length.

“Couch. Now.”

“Alright, I’m going. No arguments here.” He sent Ianto a heated smile. “Especially since we both know what happens when you get bossy.”


	11. Chapter 11

Ianto stirred, thoughts that wouldn’t stop circling around his mind bringing him out of the light sleep he’d fallen into. Jack’s arm was a comforting weight draped across his chest. It was almost always like that—waking up to find Jack holding him, either with one arm or both. As if when they were sleeping and Jack had his guard down, his subconscious took over and seemed to want nothing more than to hold on to him, like Jack was worried he was going to disappear. Though, he supposed Jack had lost so many people, it shouldn’t have been surprising if that was his fear, deep down inside.

Eventually they’d reheated and eaten the pizza, then later they’d ended up in the hidey-hole beneath Jack’s office where he had a bed set up and a few other creature comforts. Jack had seemed determined to wear him out—or maybe it was himself he’d been trying to exhaust. Either way, by the time he’d fallen asleep, he’d been ready to sink into a deep slumber for at least seven or eight hours, but niggling thoughts had kept half-waking him. Now it seemed they’d finally gotten the better of him, because he was wide awake.

He reached over to the old wooden crate Jack used as a side-table and checked his phone. One a.m. Great, just the time he wanted to be wide awake for no reason.

Though, maybe it wasn’t for no reason. The thing with the rift-jumper getting away was bugging him. Like something about it just wasn’t sitting right. Not just the fact he’d escaped, but how he’d gotten away.

Well, he wasn’t going to go back to sleep now. Not until he figured out why it was going around and around his mind. Gently, he lifted Jack’s arm and slid out of bed, but Jack had never been the best sleeper, and he stirred.

“What’s wrong?” Jack murmured, a hint of worry in his voice.

“Nothing, I just want to check something. Go back to sleep.” He leaned down and kissed him briefly on the lips, smoothing a hand through his messy hair. “I’ll be back in a bit.”

Jack settled again, so he grabbed his pants and shirt, dressing haphazardly and then climbing up the ladder into Jack’s office. As he headed across to Gwen’s workstation, a deep flapping sounded high above him, and he glanced up to see Myfawny stretching her wings. Might have been something to do with the fact that the pterodactyl had fallen through the rift herself, but whenever there was a large amount of rift activity, the prehistoric animal seemed to get restless.

At least he had some company, the hub always seemed bigger and almost daunting in the middle of the night when no one was here.

He poked at the mouse to wake the computer up from the screen-saver. He started bringing up information—readings from the rift monitor and Tosh’s other energy monitoring program, plus Lisa’s report that Jack had gotten her to write from when she’d come through the rift herself, along with Jack’s notes on the conversation they’d had about it all.

He wasn’t really sure what he was looking for, but a picture started coming together, though the problem was he didn’t know if he was seeing actual facts, or something he wanted to believe.

“What are you working on?”

He glanced away from the screen to see Jack had joined him, only half-dressed in his pants and a white T-shirt.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about it. How the rift-jumper got away. And I think I’ve worked it out. Here.” He pointed to the screen. Jack braced a hand on the back of his chair and leaned down over his shoulder. “Lisa said when she came through the rift from her reality, she stepped through what she thought was just a hole that the rift-jumper had cut through a fence, but you said you thought he’d actually cut through realities.”

“Right. And what about all this?” Jack pointed to the section of the screen where he’d been comparing energy readings.

“This is the energy reading from when Lisa first came through, and this is when the rift-jumper disappeared in the ExerGen Labs.”

“They look slightly different,” Jack commented.

“I think they are different. I’m sure if Tosh was here, she would have figured this out by now. And there’s something else.” He turned the chair to face Jack.

“Lisa said she physically stepped through a kind of portal—I guess you would call it. But at ExerGen Labs, the rift-jumper disappeared in that flash of blue energy.”

Jack glanced between him and the computer screen, the expression on his face clearly showing his mind turning this information over. “He didn’t open any kind of portal.”

“Exactly. Maybe I’m grasping at straws, but I’m not sure he actually left. Not the same way he arrived, anyway.”

“Ianto, you’re brilliant!” Jack shifted him aside a little and started quickly typing at the keyboard, running some kind of analysis of the information he’d been studying. “If we just make a few adjustments, and isolate the temporal disturbance— There!”

Jack straightened, looking excited and satisfied, but whatever he’d dug out of the information looked like gibberish to him.

“What is it?”

“You were right. He didn’t leave this reality, he just shifted slightly out of phase with it. We can’t perceive him any longer, kind of like the invisible lift, but a step further than that. The alien energy source at ExerGen Labs must not have been powerful enough to open a portal through the rift, but he wanted us to think he’d left so we’d stop looking for him.”

“So…?”

“So, we might not be able to see him, but I should be able to use my own vortex manipulator to find him. In fact, I’m guessing he’s somewhere close by, soaking up the rift-energy.”

“Should we call Gwen and Lisa?”

Jack shook his head. “If he’s nearby, he could be watching us. We bring Gwen and Lisa back in the middle of the night, he’s going to know something’s up.”

“Just you and I, then?” Not unusual. He and Jack often went weevil hunting together. And even while Tosh and Owen had still been alive, they’d teamed up more and more often. He supposed it made sense, they knew each other so well, they didn’t need to think twice about what the other was likely to do in any given situation.

Jack sent him that half-grin he often got when he was planning on doing something reckless or brash and enjoy every second of it. “You and I against some hack rift-jumper who thinks he’s outsmarted us? He doesn’t stand a chance. Let’s go.”

“And when you say _let’s go_ , I’m assuming you mean after we get dressed properly.”

Jack’s glance dropped to where he’d only half-buttoned his shirt earlier. “You’re right. It’ll be too distracting if you go out like that.”

“Cold. I was thinking more along the lines of being cold. Already had hypothermia once this week, not really an experience I’m looking to repeat. Ever.” He got to his feet and started back toward Jack’s office.

“But getting warm again was so much fun,” Jack murmured as he passed by.

“Not fun enough I’m afraid.”

Jack made an exaggerated sad face at him, and he had to fight himself over the urge to laugh. It’d only encourage him, and Jack definitely didn’t need the encouragement to be any more irreverent than he already was. 

They went down and got dressed properly, and after they were back up in the office, Jack made some adjustments to the settings on his wristband while Ianto went to the armoury and got Jack’s revolver and a gun for himself.

“Oh, you’re not as clever as you think,” Jack was laughing as he returned to the office. “I’ve got him. He’s upstairs. In the tourist office.”

“What’s he doing up there?”

Jack slid his holster onto his belt and then took the revolver to slip it away. “Let’s go find out.”

He started to head for the blast doors, but Ianto stopped him. “Wait, if we go up through the tunnel, he’ll hear us coming and might make a run for it.”

“I doubt it, he’s too cocky. He knows we won’t be able to see him.”

“But just to be sure he can’t get away, we should go up the lift and then come in through the tourist office. Like we’re just getting back from a night out.”

“Alright.” Jack let a slow smile spread over his face. “I’ll play along.”

“It’s not a game, Jack.” He sent him an exasperated look as he concealed the gun at his lower back.

“It’s always a game.” Jack winked at him and then jogged over to the lift. “You coming?”

He sighed, wondering what he was getting himself into this time and then followed Jack over to the lift. By the time he got there, Jack was already waiting and held a hand out for him. Once he’d stepped up, Jack didn’t let go, instead he threaded his fingers through his, pressing their palms together.

“Won’t you need that hand for shooting?” he asked as the lift started rising.

“I’m a good enough shot with my other hand as well.” Jack glanced at him. “Why? Don’t you want to hold hands with me? You weren’t complaining last week when we left the movies.”

“We weren’t on our way to face one of your future boyfriends who can cut through realities like a hot knife in butter when we left the movies last week.”

“He’s not my type,” Jack shot back in a low voice, clearly offended. “Not now and not even in the future. You’re not jealous, are you?”

He sent Jack a flat look. They both new he wasn’t, Jack was just trying to turn the tables on him.

“Jack, expending even a speck of energy being jealous of your lovers—past or future—would be a complete waste of time. I might as well be angry at the sun for shining.”

Not in the least bit humbled, Jack grinned at him. “Are you comparing me to the sun? You’re right, I do shine brilliantly. And if you spend too long looking at me, you just might go blind.”

“I walked right into that one, didn’t I?” he muttered as the lift reached the other paving stones at street level.

A freezing wind buffeted them, and his next exhale puffed in a white cloud. Being outside in the middle of the night in February was about the worst idea ever. It’d be lucky if it was one degree out.

“Bloody hell. Is it too late to change my mind?” He should have grabbed his heavier coat to go over his suit jacket. He eyed Jack’s thick military coat and wondered exactly how much dignity he’d lose by asking to share.

“Come on.” Jack grabbed the edge of his coat and held it out. Ianto stepped into his side and Jack wrapped his arm around him, keeping the coat in place. It wasn’t ideal, but it was better than nothing. They hurried across the Plass toward the pier, all of the restaurants and bars that overlooked the bay shut, not a single other person in sight.

When they got down to the tourist office, they were sheltered from the blustering wind, but Ianto was still shivering as he shoved the key into the lock to open the door. Jack was trying to hustle him faster, which wasn’t helping in the least, and it suddenly seemed kind of ridiculous. Brilliant plan he’d come up with. The two of them were so cold now, they’d need to thaw out again before they confronted the rift-jumper or they’d be shivering too much to be taken seriously.

By the time they practically tumbled through the door, both of them were laughing—which probably worked well with his idea of making it seem like they’d just returned from a night out. After he slammed the door closed against the gusting wind, Jack grabbed his jacket and pulled him closer.

“Come here, I need to warm up my hands.”

He grabbed Jack’s wrists, but that left him with no way to avoid Jack pressing up against him.

“And where exactly do you think you’re going to warm up your hands?”

“I can think of a few places,” Jack replied in a low, suggestive tone.

“This wasn’t part of the plan,” he mumbled as Jack leaned in closer.

“Wasn’t it? Isn’t this how our evenings usually progress when we get home from a date?”

“Except its after one am and now I’m thinking I should never have gotten out of that nice warm bed we were in half an hour ago.”

“Mmm,” Jack replied. “Imagine what we could be doing right now instead.”

“Ugh, you are so not helping. Is the rift-jumper still here or not?”

Jack subtly checked his wristband, keeping his arm between their bodies to conceal what he was doing. God only knew what it looked to anyone watching. Specifically, the invisible rift-jumper they were trying to catch.

“He’s in the back room, on the other side of the bead curtain,” Jack murmured only loud enough for him to hear.

“Okay. How are we going to get him if we can’t see him?” he whispered.

Jack sent him an exasperated look like maybe he thought whispering was completely unnecessary.

“I can take care of that. We just need to get closer.” Jack glanced over his shoulder toward the doorway where the beaded curtain was hanging. “When I say the word, we’re going to grab him.”

“Right. Except he could just slip past us and we wouldn’t know. Because, you know, he’s _invisible_.”

“Ianto, just shut up and follow my lead.”

“Excuse me, did you really just tell me to shut—”

 Jack kissed him, cutting off his words. Except he pulled right back again.

“What kind of bloody plan—”

He got a glimpse of Jack’s deepening exasperation, this time laced with annoyance, before Jack was kissing him again, tugging him along, turning them around then hustling him around the counter toward the back room like he was planning on finding somewhere very close to have his way with him.

Just as they noisily shuffled through the beaded curtain, Jack suddenly broke the kiss and spun him free.

“Now, Ianto!”

Jack activated his wristband and some kind of energy arced out in an expanding wave. A blue flash lit up the room and when it faded, the rift-jumper was seated in the old frayed office chair, snacking on a packet of crisps.

Ianto pulled his gun out and lined up the rift-jumper a second after Jack, mind a little slow to react. Though he’d known Jack had only been creating a ruse so the rift-jumper didn’t suspect they were on to him, the fact was, the man could kiss. Really, really kiss. Even when he wasn’t trying, it left his knees with all the consistency of half-cooked pudding.

“Well, damn it all.” The rift-jumper didn’t seem too concerned about being revealed. “Just when I thought things were about to get interesting.”

“They did get interesting,” Jack answered. “Just not in the way you were hoping.”

The guy idly finished his crisps and then set the packet aside before licking his fingers and getting to his feet.

“Well, as entertaining as this has been, I really need to be getting off.” He grinned, clearly entertaining himself. “Slip of the tongue there, but probably appropriate. I’m guessing I won’t be the only one getting off tonight.”

“Your powers of innuendo are astounding,” Jack replied dryly. “But you’re not going anywhere.”

“Aren’t I?” The rift-jumper held up his arm, displaying his wristband, but Jack didn’t react.

“Jack?” Ianto shifted closer, pulse picking up speed. If he escaped this time, they might not find him again. This might really be their last chance to catch him and get Lisa back to her own reality.

“It’s fine, Ianto, trust me.” Jack still didn’t make a move.

The rift-jumper shook his head like he was disappointed. “Seriously, Torchwood. All those stories. But you guys really are so underwhelming.”

He slapped a hand over his wristband with a cocky grin. “See you in hell.”

Ianto started forward to grab him, but Jack shot out an arm across his chest to stop him. At first, he didn’t understand. But then nothing happened.

It seemed to take the rift-jumper an extra moment to realize his wristband hadn’t worked. He tried again, while Jack put his pistol away and took his time pulling out a pair of handcuffs.

“Actually, _see you in hell_ is generally my catch phrase.” Jack sauntered forward. “Oh, I’m sorry. Were you planning on going somewhere? Is your wristband not working?”

“What did you do to it?” The rift-jumper didn’t notice Jack closing in, too busy pressing settings on his wristband, trying to make it work.

“I didn’t just shift you back into this reality. I shorted out your vortex manipulator. If you can still call it that with all those modifications.” Jack slapped the cuffs on his wrist.

“But how?” The rift-jumper demanded, still not seeming to realize he’d been beaten and caught.

“Because mine’s bigger,” Jack replied with a shameless grin.

Ianto rolled his eyes as he put his gun away. Somethings never changed.


	12. Chapter 12

They got the rift-jumper—who still wouldn’t tell them his name—settled into the vaults and then went back up to the hub. Jack had examined the guy’s modified vortex manipulator and thought it wouldn’t be too hard to fix all the shorts, but he was only guessing. The device had been adapted in ways that stretched even his knowledge.

Ianto had wanted to call Lisa right away with the good news, but Jack had told him to let her sleep and they’d talk to her when she arrived in the morning. Besides, he hadn’t said anything to Ianto, but he needed to make sure he could actually fix the wristband and figure out how to use it so they could send her back before they told Lisa and got her hopes up.

He’d grabbed some bits and pieces to repair the device and set himself up at his desk. For a while Ianto had hovered, but eventually Jack had told him to go back to bed. It was going to be hours before he got even close to finishing, and Ianto watching his every move wasn’t going to make it go any faster. Usually he wouldn’t have complained about being the centre of attention—especially where Ianto was concerned. But this was delicate work, and he didn’t need the distraction, especially if it ended in mistakes.

But a few hours later, he was starting to have trouble making his eyes focus and his concentration was shot—he’d just tried to do the same thing three times. He never slept as much as normal people, but even just laying down for a while could make all the difference. Especially when there was someone else to share the bed with. Setting everything aside, he climbed down the ladder and kicked off his shoes. Ianto was asleep on his side, the blankets tangled around his hips and spilling onto the floor.

With his features relaxed and unguarded, Ianto looked even younger than he was, which only made Jack feel that much older. And it was those moments that made him question what he was doing, how he could be so selfish. Ianto loved him, but what kind of life could they really have together? And that was assuming Ianto even survived Torchwood. After Canary Warf, after Tosh and Owen…

Part of him wanted to pack Ianto off somewhere safe, get him a normal job, leave him to find a new girlfriend, get married and have kids. Because Ianto deserved that. He deserved to be happy. Properly happy, not Torchwood happy where you lived in the moment because at least today you were alive and no aliens were trying to destroy the world.

Except he couldn’t do it and knew Ianto wouldn’t let him. Because the problem was he needed Ianto. And Ianto, damn it, he knew it too. Ianto had become his anchor. The home he’d not had for hundreds of years. Except the depth of that feeling was beginning to scare him, making him want to pull back. Because one day he would lose Ianto. It was the single truth he couldn’t escape from. The real constant in his life, the only thing he could rely on; that death would come for the people he loved and he would wake up alone again. Alone and maybe finally broken.

He shoved the thoughts down, like he’d done a million times before, and climbed into the bed, fitting himself up against Ianto and relaxing into his body. Ianto turned into him and Jack closed his arms around him as Ianto’s head ended up on his shoulder.

“Love you,” Ianto murmured sleepily. He probably didn’t even realise he’d said it. But it made the guilt and worry he’d been trying to shove down burn hotter.

Jack sighed, tightening his hold on Ianto because that’s all he could do. Hold him and not think about what the future would eventually bring.

He sunk into a doze, but what seemed like five minutes later, the clunking of the blast door rolling out of place roused him.

“Morning you two!” Gwen called out a second before the lights came on, shining in from his office above. “I’ve just eaten breakfast so you both better be dressed and not up to any shenanigans when I see you.”

“Go away!” Ianto called back, rolling over with a frown and then burying his face in the pillow. Sometimes he wasn’t much of a morning person. And how had Gwen known Ianto was even here? He’d been alone when she’d left last night.

“Nope, not doing that. Got work to do,” Gwen’s reply sounded cheerful and more than a little amused.

Jack climbed out of bed, needing to get back to the repairs so he could give Lisa a definitive answer about getting back to her own reality when she arrived at the hub this morning.

He’d only just sat down at his desk and started working on the wristband again when Gwen appeared at his office doorway.

“Where’s Ianto, being a lazy bones? I need coffee.”

“Get your own sodding coffee.” The answer emanating from below his office left Jack fighting the urge to laugh.

“Oh, poor baby. Had a sleepless night, did we?” She pointed a finger at Jack. “And no, I _really_ don’t want details.”

“Actually, we did have quite the eventful night,” he answered with a grin. “We caught the rift-jumper.”

“No, get out!” Gwen came into his office and sat in the chair on the opposite side of his desk. “Why didn’t you call me?”

“It all kind of happened fast. He was close by and we didn’t want to tip him off.” He picked up the vortex manipulator he was trying to fix. “If I can get this working properly again, we should be able to send Lisa home again within a few hours.”

“Well done team Janto,” Gwen said with a smirk.

“Janto?” he repeated, arching an eyebrow at her.

“You know, like Brangalina. Only—”

“Thanks, I get it. Very funny. Now get lost, I’ve got work to do.”

She slouched back in the chair and folded her hands over her middle, not looking like she planned on moving. “Yep, here’s me, off to make that coffee. Going to fire up the coffee machine. I mean, it might jam again, but I’m sure if I give it a good whack—”

“Okay, okay, I’m up.” Ianto appeared at the top of the ladder, shooting Gwen a glare. “We _do not_ whack the coffee machine.”

“Not while you’re here, at any rate,” Gwen murmured sharing a conspiratorial glance with Jack.

“That’s it. Burnt coffee for you. Though, you probably won’t even notice. You certainly didn’t last time.” Ianto left the office, the muttering continuing as he crossed to the kitchenette area.

“You shouldn’t torment him,” Jack murmured, not able to keep the amusement out of his voice. “One day he might decide to do something worse than burn your coffee. He’s got a wicked side that makes me—”

“And that’s where I leave the conversation.” Gwen jumped to her feet and practically ran out of his office, back to her workstation.

“So predictable,” he sighed to himself, returning his attention to the wristband.

Ianto brought him a coffee a few minutes later, and then sat in the chair Gwen had vacated to sip at his own mug. He didn’t try to make conversation, he seemed content enough with the silence and coffee.  

It was maybe an hour later when the blast doors opened to reveal Lisa. Ianto had gone out a while ago to get them breakfast, and Gwen greeted her when she walked in. Gwen didn’t say anything about the rift-jumper, and when Lisa came over to his office, he found himself making small talk with her. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to tell her. The modified vortex manipulator was pretty much fixed and he was fairly sure he could get her back to her own reality. But it seemed like Ianto should be the one to give her the good news.

Luckily, Ianto returned, carrying paper bags from a bakery that smelled like they were filled with warm pastries.

“Morning,” he said to Lisa. Ianto was in a much better mood now than he’d been first thing this morning. “Did Jack tell you the good news?”

Lisa glanced at him, clearly mystified. “No.”

Ianto set a paper bag on his desk and then offered one to Lisa. “We caught the rift-jumper last night and Jack has his wristband. We should be able to send you home.”

“Oh my god!” Lisa jumped at him, wrapping her arms around him in an enthusiastic hug. “I can’t believe it!”

She let Ianto go almost as suddenly as she’d grabbed him and then rounded the desk to envelope Jack in a hug as well.

“Why didn’t you say so when I got here?” She pulled back, smiling down at him.

He patted her arm. “Didn’t want to steal Ianto’s thunder. He’s been wanting to tell you for hours.”

She glanced over at Ianto. “You should have called me right away. It’s not like I was sleeping. I spent all night awake wondering what the hell I was going to do since I thought I was stuck here. No offense.”

“None taken,” Ianto replied with a fond smile.

“I told him not to,” Jack interjected. “I had to short out the rift-jumper’s wristband to stop him from using it, and I wasn’t a hundred percent certain I could fix it.”

“You weren’t?” Ianto cut him a surprised look. “Why didn’t you tell me that?”

He sent Ianto an exasperated look. “And have you moping for the rest of the night? No thank you.”

“I don’t mope.”

Lisa made a scoffing noise while Jack had to work hard not to grin.

“Fine,” Ianto conceded. “But sometimes a situation calls for a good moping.”

Jack held the wristband out toward Lisa. “Let’s all sit down in the conference room and have a nice breakfast. Can’t travel through realities on an empty stomach.”

Lisa smiled as she took the vortex manipulator and fastened it onto her wrist.

Ianto clapped his hands together. “Right, I’ll make another round of coffees, shall I?”

He walked off before anyone could answer, calling out to Gwen on the way past and telling her breakfast was happening in the conference room.

They spent the next hour eating the pastries Ianto had brought while Ianto and Lisa shared a few funny stories. Some of them had happened exactly the same way in both realities, while others had slight variations. Finally, though, breakfast ended and Jack could tell Lisa was starting to get anxious to be on her way.

The four of them went down to the vaults where he and Ianto had locked up the rift-jumper last night. Jack let him out of the cell but kept the cuffs on him.

“Don’t suppose you’re going to cooperate and show us how to use your vortex manipulator to open a portal through realities?” Jack passed him into Lisa’s custody.

The rift-jump sent him a smug smile. “Not even a little.”

Jack sent him an annoyed glare before turning his attention to Lisa, lifting her arm and flipping the cover of the vortex manipulator open. He was applying his knowledge about time travel rather liberally and hoping it applied to the modifications the rift-jumper had made that allowed him to shift through realities. He took a moment to adjust the settings, then showed Lisa what she needed to do when she was ready to go.

“This is it, then,” she said as Jack stepped back again. She passed a look between him and Ianto. “It’s been interesting.”

“Possibly an understatement,” Ianto replied. “But yes, interesting is certainly one way of putting it.”

Lisa closed the distance between them and hugged Ianto tightly. “I’m sorry about what happened to your Lisa, but I’m glad you found someone. I’m glad you’re happy. She would have wanted that.”

Ianto returned the embrace just as firmly. “I wish there was someway I could thank you. Getting to see you, knowing you—she is out there living the life we dreamed of. It’s—”

He broke off, like he didn’t quite have the words to express what he was feeling.

“I know,” she whispered. She pulled back and kissed him on the cheek. “Just getting me home is all the thanks I need.”

He nodded, with an emotional smile, stepping back from her again.

Lisa gave Gwen a quick hug next and then turned to Jack. He grinned at her as she stepped over. “You would have made one hell of an addition to the team, but I’m not going to say I’m sorry to see you go.”

She laughed and leaned closer to him. “You look after him, or I’ll come back through realities just to shoot you.”

“Yes ma’am,” he replied as he let her go again. He had no doubt she could and would do it, too.

Ianto slid his hands into his pockets and shifted closer to him, their shoulders brushing. Lisa stepped back, and with a deep breath, activated the vortex manipulator the way he’d shown her.

A silver-blue beam of light shot out and cut up the wall, creating a widening gap like the wall itself had been sliced open. Through it, there was another vault room like the one they were standing in.

She turned and took the rift-jumper by the arm, who was glaring at the opening like maybe he was thinking about trying to fight his way free rather than go through. But Lisa pulled out her gun and pointed it into his side.

“Don’t even think of trying anything.”

A distance clanging noise sounded and through the portal, the door in the opposite wall opened to show another Jack and Ianto run into the other-reality room.

“What the hell?” Other Jack said as the two of them pulled to a sudden halt, staring through the portal.

“Now _that_ is weird,” Ianto said, but then he waved to himself with a grin.

The Other Ianto returned the wave uncertainly, while Other Jack stepped closer to the portal. “Who the hell are you people?”

“We’re you in an alternate reality,” Jack called back. “Don’t worry, Lisa will explain everything.”

Lisa shoved the rift-jumper into a walk, making him go ahead of her through the portal. She paused just as she was about to step through. “Thank you again, for everything.”

“Anytime,” Jack replied in a low voice.

“Goodbye, Lisa,” Ianto said, a hint of emotion in his voice. But it wasn’t devastation or sorrow, it sounded like he was ready to completely let go of her and was very okay with it.

Lisa sent them one last smile and stepped through the portal. Just before it closed, Ianto slid an arm around him, shifting into his side. Jack glanced down at him in surprise, but wrapped his own arm around Ianto almost automatically. When he looked up, the Other Ianto was staring at them with a shocked expression, while the Other Jack had an amused look on his face.

The portal shut and Jack returned his attention to Ianto. “Do you have any idea what you just did?”

“Yep,” Ianto replied, stepping out of his hold again.

“And people think _I’m_ the crazy one,” he replied in disbelief. “You were just totally messing with yourself—your other self, from an alternate reality.”

Ianto shrugged like it was no big deal.

“Lisa would have told him anyway. This way it was more fun,” a grin spread over his face. “For me anyway.”

“You are—” He shook his head, not even sure exactly what Ianto was, except he was kind of turned on.

“Come on, work to do. Reports to write. Archives to organise.” Ianto shoved his hands in his pockets and headed out of the vaults, seeming like his steps were lighter somehow.

Jack glanced at Gwen who’d stood by and watched the whole thing silently.

“I’m not saying anything.” But she was grinning as she brushed by him and walked out of the vaults.

“Ah, Ianto Jones,” he murmured to himself as he turned to follow them. “You really are one in a million.”

 

The End.


End file.
